October 11, 2005
OPINIONSLegend's View:
Bring them back from Iraq
Remember when the Iraq War ended? May 1, 2003.
President Bush assisted in a dramatic landing of a Navy Plan onto an aircraft carrier.
Dressed in a Green Flight suit, he met a cheering crowd who gathered under the banner, “Mission Accomplished.”
Over two-and-a-half years later, we are no closer to mission accomplished than we were on that day.
The death toll continues to rise and insurgents continue to run rampant through destroyed cities.
The post-war plan that was initially laid out by the government is a far cry from the course of events that have actually taken place.
We were told that once Saddam and his regime were out of power, the road to restoring democracy would be an easy one, that a working democracy could instituted, and that the cost of rebuilding would be cheap because Iraq could practically pay for itself with oil profits.
It has not been an easy road. More like a dangerous road that’s traveled by ill-equipped humvees.
The road to rebuilding and instituting a democracy also carries a huge price tag -- an estimated $200 billion.
So, what are we going to do with this problem we call the Iraq War?
It seems to be a toss up between pulling out and cutting our losses, or finishing what we started.
I think the real answer is somewhere in between. We can’t leave Iraq and its people with the mess we have made, but who wants to see more of our troops die while we spend more and more money?
What we need now is a clear exit strategy. One that is backed by other nations.
Our government doesn’t want to lay out a clear exit strategy because there is fear it will be used as a calendar by insurgents.
Yet it seems like a win/lose situation, in that violence is likely to erupt whenever we begin pulling out our troops, whether we lay out the plan or not.
At least if there was a plan we could see how much progress we were making, and give it some sort of timeline, rather then leaving it an open book.
Our presence in Iraq will be needed for many years to come, no matter what our exit strategy is. I think it’s time that the public begins putting more pressure on the government to begin pulling out troops.
Yes, we need to finish what we started -- but let’s get a move on. This can’t go on for another two or three years like it has.