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Brandeis University's Community Newspaper — Waltham, Mass.

Iraq too unstable to withdraw troops

Published: October 1, 2007
Section: Opinions


Being a person who believes in fairness, I have reserved a few comments for my own party, the Democratic Party. For those of you who watch or read anything about politics, you have probably noticed that Democrats, in particular Democratic presidential candidates, are currently engaged in a game of Who Can Bash The Iraq War The Most.

There is nothing wrong with having an opinion on the war, whether positive of negative. I would have hoped, however, that anti-war Democrats would have a better war strategy than the one many currently favor. It looks a little something like this:

Leave.

Now.

Now isnt that helpful?

Anyone with any common sense knows that the U.S. cannot just decide to leave Iraq tomorrow and hope for the best. The country will fall into chaos and anarchy, and a new, Saddam-like dictator is likely to gain power and turn his country against America, prompting yet another Iraq war.

So what can we do?

Well, we can start by looking at other countries that America has occupied during wartime. Germany, Japan, and South Korea are still home to U.S. Military bases, and the wars fought in those countries were finished over fifty years ago. Clearly, we cannot expect to completely abandon a developing country that we have only occupied for five years. A strong, democratic Iraq could be just what the Middle East needs in order to stabilize. Although critics may laugh at the notion of a strong Iraq, they need not look any further than Germany, Japan, and South Korea. These nations are home to a strong U.S. Military presence, and they are stable, economics powers. Iraq can be made peaceful. It has been done before, and it can be done again.

I personally would like to hear a new sentiment from the Democrat-controlled Congress. Instead of claiming to have the backbone to completely withdraw from Iraq (mostly for the purpose of gaining votes), Congress would be better off working with the military. With less arguing and more action, we could make Iraq strong enough to stand up on two feet on its own. Only when that is done should the word withdraw be uttered in Congress.

Patience. It is not one of Americas strongest qualities, but it can be learned. It must be learned.