Time to Get Out
NPR’s Weekend Edition this past Saturday had an interview with Lt. General William Odom, U.S Army (Ret.). He is a former head of the National Security Agency under Ronald Reagan and currently is a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute.
He believes that the US should carefully withdraw from Iraq over the next three to six months because our military presence there diplomatically and strategically paralyzes our actions by tying us down, alienating our friends, and inciting the region. In order to create a stabilized Middle East, we need allies working with us and that will not happen as long as we are in Iraq. He believes this is necessary even in the face of the sectarian violence that will continue and worsen with our departure.
He is more concerned with that violence spreading to the rest of the region than he is with its occurrence in Iraq. We can’t stop the violence without taking sides but doing so would just serve as a further catalyst. Our being there hasn’t stopped the violence, which despite major efforts by the military, keeps growing. Getting out will result in the Iraqis settling their differences and achieving a state where they can then move forward. Avoiding violence while building a model democratic state more and more looks like Bush wishful thinking. Iraq won't be ruled by Iraqis without a brutal fight, whether we are there or not.
He does not believe withdrawal will be a signal to Al Qaeda that we are weak. Instead he sees it as wisdom on our part that we will no longer allow them to bleed us into weakness in the world. Our Iraq presence has greatly benefited Iran and Al Qaeda. The latter is despised by the Shiites and the Kurds and only tolerated by the Sunnis who hate us more. With the US out, Al Qaeda has no rational reason for being in Iraq and will be expelled.
Our ability to build an Iraqi army and police force, which is Bush’s reason for staying, is untenable because those groups are consumed with factional strife, rather than being a united entity. Until there is an indigenous party in control of the Iraqi government, a unified Iraqi security force is impossible. This will not occur until there is either a civil war that produces a victor who can consolidate the country or the country is divided into three separate parts.
He believes that the US should carefully withdraw from Iraq over the next three to six months because our military presence there diplomatically and strategically paralyzes our actions by tying us down, alienating our friends, and inciting the region. In order to create a stabilized Middle East, we need allies working with us and that will not happen as long as we are in Iraq. He believes this is necessary even in the face of the sectarian violence that will continue and worsen with our departure.
He is more concerned with that violence spreading to the rest of the region than he is with its occurrence in Iraq. We can’t stop the violence without taking sides but doing so would just serve as a further catalyst. Our being there hasn’t stopped the violence, which despite major efforts by the military, keeps growing. Getting out will result in the Iraqis settling their differences and achieving a state where they can then move forward. Avoiding violence while building a model democratic state more and more looks like Bush wishful thinking. Iraq won't be ruled by Iraqis without a brutal fight, whether we are there or not.
He does not believe withdrawal will be a signal to Al Qaeda that we are weak. Instead he sees it as wisdom on our part that we will no longer allow them to bleed us into weakness in the world. Our Iraq presence has greatly benefited Iran and Al Qaeda. The latter is despised by the Shiites and the Kurds and only tolerated by the Sunnis who hate us more. With the US out, Al Qaeda has no rational reason for being in Iraq and will be expelled.
Our ability to build an Iraqi army and police force, which is Bush’s reason for staying, is untenable because those groups are consumed with factional strife, rather than being a united entity. Until there is an indigenous party in control of the Iraqi government, a unified Iraqi security force is impossible. This will not occur until there is either a civil war that produces a victor who can consolidate the country or the country is divided into three separate parts.
posted by John Weiss at 10:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home