Iraq. Withdraw or Stay the Course?
Immediate Withdrawal
Side Score: 21
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Continue Fighting
Side Score: 24
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While we have lost many lives, there's little indication that what's happening there is doing any real good. Many soliders coming back think it's not. We're throwing billions of dollars down a never-ending pit of death.
More importantly, we're sending our soldiers to die in a situation where each death causes two more. If Israel and Palestine are any indication, the hatred towards us will never stop. Every day we're there, we get more enemies as we kill someone's friends or family. We have to stop wasting our resources on something that will never get better. Side: Immediate Withdrawal
1
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I have to disagree with your statement that we are causing more violence because of who we kill. I have a brother who served and was killed there, and I have also served myself, and first of all, we are killing a lot more of them than they are of us. From a military standpoint that means we are winning. And I believe most Americans do not understand the culture over there. The majority of the people there were actually happy about the US overthrowing Saddam Husain's dictatorship. And they were happy that we were killing off Al Queda members. You see, Al Queda doesn't just harass Americans, or non Muslims. They are downright brutal to anyone who doesn't support their extremest views. it is not common over there for Al Queda members to literally rape, pillage, and kill people through entire villages simply because they think they are the only "holy ones" and are entitled to do whatever they want. As a result, the majority of people have an intense hatred of these extremest groups, and it's not unheard of for Fathers to kill their own jihadist sons. I do believe it will take a lot of time, a lot of money, and a lot of lives, but it is possible to stabilize the middle east. Side: Continue Fighting
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I disagree. There is strong evidence that we are making a difference over there. You never hear about all the schools that have opened since we've been there, the democracy that is being instilled, the fact that women are now allowed to get educations now, etc. The media completely spins the truth and only tells about the bad things that are happening over there. Pulling out now would be abandoning the Iraqi people when they need us the most.
Side: Continue Fighting
You're confusing Iraq with Afghanistan. Iraq was one of the least sexist countries in the middle east before the war. Now it is becoming more sexist as Islamists take control. Iraq is a bloody mess thanks to the war. Saddam Hussein was bad, granted, but what business is it of ours to meddle in their affairs? There are plenty of dictatorships out there, should we invade them all? Side: Immediate Withdrawal
While I hate to leave the Iraqis to clean up the mess we made for them and to leave them to fend for themselves, the fact is giving them our open-ended military and financial support is bankrupting our own country. We're too busy building bridges (that we blew up) in Iraq, while our own bridges right here at home are at the brink of falling down... one of them already did. The Iraqis will have much more incentive to fight for the defense of their country once they know our troops won't be guarding them for 'free' any longer. Side: Bankrupting ourselves for the Iraqis
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To say the war was fought over oil alone is ridiculous. There WERE actual US intelligence reports that Saddam Hussein may have been hiding WMDs. And Even though those reports turned out to be in error, the world is better off without him. Furthermore, much of the middle east is without stable government. This is especially dangerous with the presence of militant Jihadists, black market criminals, and radicals of every kind. If we don't get them stabilized before we withdraw our troops, all our work will be lost, the government will revert back to a dictatorship, and we will have yet another conflict for our children to deal with. But for the sake of argument, let's suppose the war was only for oil. Do you realize how important oil is to American economy? Sure we have oil fields in Texas, Alaska, and a few other places, but how long will that last us? 15 years? 20 years? If we're lucky? And how long will it take us to be completely nondependant on petroleum energy? If there was even the smallest gap between the time we ran out of oil to the time alternative energy sources were cost effective, it would be a tremendous blow. Companies would crash, the government would bog down, and we would have a situation worse than the great depression. Side: Continue Fighting
I agree with you that the war had little to do with oil. However, Iraq had a stable government before the war. Now it doesn't. There was a power balance between Iran and Iraq, now Iraq has been weakened, Iran, an even more oppressive regime has the upper hand in the region. Side: Immediate Withdrawal
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Whatever your view on the events which brought the US to war may be, we must continue to support combat operations in Iraq. Just as in Vietnam, the United States is winning our current conflict, at least in terms of military strategy and tactical victory. While coalition forces have lost 4,280 men and women to date, the enemy combatants' (former B'athists, foreign insurgents, al Qaida in Iraq and other groups) death toll has surpassed 19,000 since 2003, with an estimated 25% of those kills occurring since February 2007 (DOD). This indicates the US military is fully capable of adapting and succeeding in its mission. The United States must continue its fight because of those 4,280 lost, 3,973 died wearing the uniform of our nation. It would be an insult to their sacrifice to withdraw our forces before they are given every opportunity to successfully accomplish their mission. The only way we should see force reductions in the near future is if we begin to see clear and consistent political cooperation between US and Iraqi leadership that produces definitive, realistic objectives resulting in a more stable Iraq and middle east.
Side: Continue Fighting
I agree, I feel like we're too far in to this mess now and we can't just turn our backs on the Iraqi people after we've come in to their country. We need to stay the course, continue to train the Iraqi people to govern and police themselves, and begin to withdraw troops when there's evidence that it's working.
Side: Continue Fighting
I understand people are dying. The thing is, when we went to war back in '03, a lot of people were on board, a lot of people who have now changed their minds. You cannot leave a project unfinished, and fact is, wer're not finished. I'd be worried if we pulled them out.
Side: Continue Fighting
Most people initially supported the war because the Intelligence community told us Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was on the verge of using them against us and our allies. Since then, we have found out that Iraq didn't possess WMD. They were never a threat. The reason Americans have changed their minds is that they were duped into supporting the war. Moreover, it's nearly impossible to win an insurgency with just the military. We need more action on the diplomatic and political fronts.
Side: Immediate Withdrawal
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we can not leave Iraq a failed state there government is still not fully set up violence is still a big problem the Iraq's need our help and the Us have never surrendered to the terrioarits now why should we now plus lest just get the job done now so our kids don't have to come back there to fight the same fight Side: Continue Fighting
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