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November 27, 2004

Choosing our Direction in Iraq

The Democratic Party may be looking for a new direction in the wake of their narrow loss in this year's election, but if they follow Tom Hayden's suggestions, they should be well on their way to cementing their status as a minority party. Hayden wants the left to band together to pressure the government to shut off all funding for the Iraq War in order to force the U.S. out of Iraq. While that might be effective in installing Hayden's more progressive policies in the United States, what else would it mean? The answer is obvious: the same thing it meant to millions of Vietnamese after Hayden and his ideological brethren pulled the same stunt in 1975; death and devastation. Granting that Iraq has entirely too much of that right now, the violence would only grow worse in the absence of Coalition troops. With the number of troops we have in Iraq now, the insurgents and terrorists can disrupt parts of the country, but they cannot hope to take control of the country. Their only hope is if Coalition forces leave before the new Iraqi government is capable of defending itself. Should that occur, however, the insurgency could easily spread to involve the entire country. Granted, the impression might be of less chaos in the country if American troops were no longer on the ground, since the media wouldn't report on it as much, but the reality would be far worse as the various factions warred for control. The number of deaths would far outstrip what we're currently seeing. I would like little more than to see our troops come home from Iraq. But our goal in Iraq wasn't simply the removal of Saddam Hussein from power. When we leave Iraq, it needs to have a representative form of government and at least a nominal amount of stability. The representative government can get moving in the right direction early next year (assuming the elections aren't postponed). Stability will require training enough Iraqis to fight the insurgency to a standoff. They don't have to be able to hunt them down and destroy them. Once a true Iraqi representative government is in place, the number of Iraqis willing to hide the terrorists and insurgents will shrink to insignificance. At which time, the Iraqi government should be able to wrap up the worst of the problem in short order. Will it be easy? Of course not. Is it guaranteed to work? No way. But is the possibility of a free and independent Iraq better than the certainty of another despot or Islamic tyranny imposed on them and our terrorist enemies given a new foothold from which to attack us? I'd say so, and perhaps it can be argued that our recent election shows that a slim majority of the American people concur. Here's hoping Hayden and his band of leftists don't succeed in turning that tide. Hat tip: Instapundit.

Posted at November 27, 2004 10:03 PM

Andrew Olmsted

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Comments

Andrew, do you think the "80% Solution" being bandied about lately will lead to conditions where "the number of Iraqis willing to hide the terrorists and insurgents will shrink to insignificance"?

Posted by: Jim Henley at November 28, 2004 10:12 AM

Jim,

My first instinct is that it is unlikely to work. The majority of Iraqis hiding insurgents are Sunnis; therefore, solving the problem involves convincing the Sunnis that the new government will really represent and protect them. I'll try to put up more on this later this week.

Posted by: Andrew at November 28, 2004 10:30 PM

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