In choosing one of the three options provided by Mr. Olmstead, I personally would not choose any of them. I believe that the best way to handle the current situation in Iraq would be to maintain the amount of U.S. troops there, but gradually decrease United States presence over a course of several years, and try to continue to set Iraq on a course towards Democracy.
I understand that there are many U.S. casualties which hit close to home, and that is one of the main reasons that many United States citizens want the troops to evacuate Iraq. In fact, according to CNN news,
U.S. military deaths in Iraq in October reached 100 Monday, making this the deadliest month for American troops in a year.
However, if the United States does pull out of Iraq, there is a great opportunity for more terrorist attacks against the United States. Although the al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden are based primarily in Afghanistan, if the United States were to cease its efforts in Iraq right now, the rest of the world could quite possibly view our country as quitters or a failure. And when this crack in America’s foundation is discovered by the rest of the world, there are countless possibilities that pose a threat to the U.S.
This is where we have to make a vital decision; do we want to stay in Iraq and loose 75 soldiers a month who are doing their job, or do we want to evacuate Iraq and make the U.S vulnerable to loosing even more American civilians here at home? Lula makes a comment that I need to disagree with based on my above arguments.
Now that our most recent purpose has been accomplished, creating a democracy, we definitely need to leave. The Iraqi prime minister has said he does not want us there anymore.
We have not set up a successful democracy, because the three ethnic divisions in Iraq are at a constant dispute, which could even be seen as a civil war. Therefore if America leaves now, without having established a successful democracy, Iraq may end up with in a tyrannical state which we initially set out to destroy, or end up with the rule of one party. Both of these outcomes for Iraq following our evacuation will only be catastrophic; hence, we must remain in Iraq.
However, viewing another issue that Lula brings up, I definitely agree with her in respect to the fact that
There are other parts of the world that need our help, such as, Darfur. We have even called it a genocide and we haven’t helped.
The United States government, and especially the people of the United States need to have a broader spectrum of issues to be concerned with. We should definitely address situations such as those in Darfur, but we also need to stay the course in Iraq. For such a sophisticated nation, I believe that we are capable of multitasking.
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