I suppose I should begin by explaining that I was against the Iraq war at the begining. Attacking another country without provocation is a horrible precedent. Saddam Hussein was no more culpable for 911 than the leaders of many countries in the region, most notably Iran and Syria. He was however more dangerous to peace in the region, and his own people.
I am now appalled by the rhetoric of the democrats, most of whom voted FOR the war in the first place. Their opinion has turned a 180 based on little but the results of polls. 90% of America was for the war before it started. Now that the political tide has turned they are willing to throw the Iraqi people to the wolves.
A withdrawal at this point would likely lead to civil war. Fewer people will be killed by hostile action if order is maintained. American troops are needed to maintain that order. After a civil war the government of Iraq would be either a theocracy or an ethnically dominated one like Sadams. Either would be hostile to America and suportive of terrorism.
The first Gulf war was too easy, and America felt proud while ignoring the result of not following through. Sadam was left in power, and American leaders encouraged Kurds in the north, and Marsh Arabs in the south to rise up against him. The American press only barely noted the genocidal supression of them both, and all America did was establish 'no fly zones' to make the process a little more difficult for the government. I've rarely been more embarased to be an American. The sanctions that were put in place after that war also caused AT LEAST 200,000 Iraqi children under 5 years old to die from malnourishment or lack of medicine in the 9 years following their imposition. Compared to Coalition casualties of just over 4,000 dead, and less than 30,000 wounded in the current war.
America has a poor history of doing the right thing in the middle east by any standard other than protecting the flow of oil. Now that we have actually freed millions of people from their oppressive government, and are protecting innocent lives it makes me sick to see the politicaly expedient, opposing it.
If you have opposed the war all allong, and still do bravo. Now take a look at reality, and take a stand for democracy, freedom, and saving innocent lives. Progress often REQUIRES sacrifice.
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I have many friends and loved ones fighting in Iraq as we speak, including my fiancée. He is serving his second tour as are all of my other friends that are there. While I understand we now have an obligation to finish what we started, I believe a lot of our government has been put on auto pilot.
I am a very proud patriotic American, but I believe that we must also think about what this war is doing to our stateside. Families are falling apart, our military is weakening in moral and sensitation and we are close to having the majority of our troops overseas rather than at home. Extending the tours from 12 months to 15 months does not help at all. This war has caused for the first time for the average solider to be gone more than home. This is a sad thing especially since one of the American dreams is to have a close knit family structure. Enlistments have dropped dramatically and if we are not careful we could leave our country of the free more defenseless than ever.
Fighting a drawn out war is not going to help, but flat-out withdrawing is not going to much better either. The government needs to be careful about how it handles the situation, and, it just does not look like there are any completely good alternatives to these two. There are people in the government looking for ways to actually make things right without losing the good things they have managed to pull through the mess, but they are fighting an uphill battle to make beneficial changes in the way this war is going on.