This is a short paper I wrote for a class. The prompt was to talk about the pros and cons of staying indefinitely in Iraq versus an immediate withdrawal. This teacher doesn't like long introductions or conclusions, so this was an interesting experience for me.
The current war in Iraq is a contentious topic for many people in this country, and debates about whether we were justified in entering into such a war are still going on today. However, now that the United States has committed itself to this action, we must start having serious discussions about what our course of action should be now.
One option that we have to consider is that of remaining in Iraq. While staying there, we would have to begin strong education programs for the younger generation as well as working toward stabilizing the region through more policing. It would also be necessary to provide greater support for the Iraqi government’s infrastructure-building efforts. One of the biggest drawbacks of this plan is the fact that it would take a very large amount of money and manpower to manage it with any amount of success. This course will certainly increase our national debt by a great deal, putting us even further in the debt and leaving us with very little revenue for domestic programs that we might need. Our domestic economy would certainly suffer from the large amounts of money we would be pumping into Iraqi rebuilding. Furthermore, many men and women of our National Guard and Reserves are already over in Iraq with no end to their tours of duty in sight. If we were to continue to occupy the country this problem would only be compounded. Since it would undoubtedly take several decades for us to be able to reduce troop levels and monetary aid without the country collapsing, these issues would be compounded several times over the longer we stayed there. However, if we were successful and managed to achieve stability in the country and a sharp decrease in sectarian violence, we would have a strong ally in the region who would potentially protect our interests. We would also have subdued a threat to one of our strongest allies, Israel, and also be able to influence an oil-producing country into lowering costs for Americans. This influence would come at a cost, though, since we would probably have to maintain a presence in Iraq similar to the one we have in Japan and Germany in order to keep radical Islamists from gaining popular support. Furthermore, our aid and trade with the country would have to stay high to give them incentive to maintain close ties with the United States in a region that is generally against us.
Despite such dismal prospects for remaining in Iraq, the consequences of pulling out immediately may be as dire, if in a different way. In order to do this in a reasonable way, we would have to make an attempt to train the Iraqi police force as quickly as possible and prop up the Iraqi government as much as possible. By removing all of our troops as quickly as possible we risk the country collapsing into civil war with a government that is not equipped to maintain its position through such a thing. In such a climate of chaos, bordering countries such as Iran and Syria may see this as a prime opportunity to carve up Iraq for themselves, increasing the violence in the region and ultimately decreasing world opinion of the United States. Instead of securing our interests in the Middle East, this course of action will most likely decrease their opinion of us. This could also increase oil prices as during this period of violence the Iraqi oil fields will likely be out of commission or under the control of OPEC countries opposed to America. On the other hand, this course will ensure that no more of our men and women in the armed forces die and will make sure that we are no longer losing such large amounts of money into the effort in Iraq. However, if we were to try to keep Iraq from collapsing completely after we withdrew, we would probably have to continue large amounts of aid to the government.
To conclude, it seems that both an indefinite stay in Iraq and a rapid withdrawal are imprudent plans for the United States government to take in terms of both Iraqi welfare and our own. Perhaps the best option is that which finds a middle ground between the two extremes that includes a carefully considered plan.
Thus ends my incredibly depressing paper. When you think about it, it's going to take a pretty genius solution to get us out of this with any of our reputation intact.
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