To Leave Or Not To Leave Iraq
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in War
That was the question the Wall Street Journal posed recently, and the results point to Americans wanting us to leave sooner rather than later.
First, 51% think we should set a timetable to leave Iraq and 18% think we should leave right now. Only 19% think we should send more troops in. I used to be in that 19%, but now I’m unfortunately in the 51%…given that the country is now in Civil War.
And setting a timetable is important, because I really don’t think that Iraq is going to change unless we force them to change. We simply don’t have the troops to pour into the country, so something else has to be done.
Also, to that Iraq Civil War meme, now 68% believe that the country is indeed in a Civil War. Many have said it first, and now an overwhelmingly majority of Americans believe it (at least according to this poll).
So what does that mean? Did NBC’s decision to call it a Civil War make any difference? Maybe a little bit, but that was only a few days ago so I think one can hardly say it had that much influence. And this poll certainly suggests that many think the situation is not only headed downhill, it’s very near the bottom.
In the end, maybe this is the stat that makes the most difference. According to 56% of Republicans, “Taking military action against Iraq was the right thing to do, but things have gotten off course there.”
Yes, a majority of Republicans think that things are sideways…and that says a lot.
What do you think?
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December 1st, 2006 at 1:48 pm
Oh boy, where to begin. This morning C-Span had on Thomas Ricks, the Wash. Post military correspondent, who wrote “Fiasco”; a collex of soldiers stories he compiled while embedded in Iraq. One important point was it’s much worse than you know. As he put it; ‘ the media and some of the public has, for some time now, seen it worse off there than the folks prosecuting this war. Not any more. The intelligence coming out of Iraq now paints a much darker picture than we imagine’, to paraphrase.
Another example is about the title of the book “Fiasco”. When he picked it back in May, I believe, he got questioned ‘aren’t you being too severe?’ Now there’s no mention of it. Fiasco appears to sum it up.
He also had an interesting response to one southerner call-in who tried to reem ‘em a new arse, as he would probably put it. After the typical rant about liberals bein too soft, aiding and abbetting the enemy, bla, bla, bla, Mr. Ricks said something like: ‘I take exception to that… I was there when my fellow journalist was beheaded by al queda, I am no friend of the enemy!’ He was rather upset by the implication that he was a coward or soft on terrorism because he wrote this book.
And that’s how it’s gone with this administration. Either you get it , or you’re wrong, and then comes the name calling to help discredit anything you say. It’s this arrogance, repeated from the top on down, that has dug the hole so deep. One example mentioned was Bush’s declaration to the terrorists to “Bring it on” if they were thinking of further attacks. What an idiotic mistake, later admitted to by Bush, which fired up and motivated our enemies.
So, to answer your question, yes. We should get out sooner than later. The time has passed for anything good to happen for Iraqi’s or ourselves in the war on terror. Do it in a timely manner to minimize violence and save face as to not further embolden our enemies, if at all possible. Concentrate on that and we may save something of our image in the world.
December 1st, 2006 at 3:13 pm
See, that’s the thing that bugs me. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or Republican or whatever, if you’re not being honest about the situation over there then you’re just a hack, plain and simple.
And that’s also why I’ve always thought that this talk about “Where’s the good news?” was bunk because it’s so much more important to make sure we’re fixing the problems that the bad news uncovers, and fast.
Oh well, maybe we’ll get it next time.
By the way, I hope Ricks really tore into that idiot. That’s the type of partisan hackery I hope goes away, but if we keep electing people who bring people like Rove along with them…that’s all we’re gonna get.
December 1st, 2006 at 9:01 pm
What I think…. I guess I have maybe a “conspiracy theory” attitude about some of this: we’re wasting our defenses on a country imploding, already deep into civil war.
What if that’s the point? That we waste our defenses there when where we really need them is at home….
December 2nd, 2006 at 12:23 am
My only objection to calling the situation in Iraq a civil war is that it isn’t that coherent. If it were a civil war, we might have a chance to salvage something even now. As it is, someone will have to apply an iron fist to get the anarchy under control — and the US won’t. So the best we can do is decamp to Kurdistan and wait until the slaughter dies down. And see if we can actually learn from the (numerous) errors which brought us to this.
December 4th, 2006 at 12:24 am
Did we learn from Viet Nam?
March 23rd, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Why would the Kurds want us there? Everywhere we go, the violence follows. Withdrawing to Afghanistan makes more sense, before that situation goes completely out of control. But since when does George make sense?