| Published: Waubonsee Insight |
| Date: November 2007 |
| Section: Opinion/Editorial |
| Comments: Published under pen name. |
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By: Ian Essling
I'm sick and tired of hearing people talk about pulling troops out of Iraq as if that is the end all solution to our problems over there. The point here is not whether or not the US should pull its troops out. The point is whether or not we want Iraq to be taken over by radicals and then used against us, because that is what will happen if we pull our troops out too soon.
Pulling our troops out of Iraq before it has the ability to defend itself will be disastrous. Iraq's government will fall in a matter of days to the first terrorist group to get there (given that Al Qaeda already IS there, my money is on them), and the country will become a terrorist state and a breeding ground for anti-American militant groups.
It's bad enough that we have countries like Syria and Iran that sponsor terror groups; we certainly don't need another country actually run by terrorists (Cuba and North Korea are enough, thanks).
The Iraq situation is a mess; I agree with that. However, screaming for us to pull the troops out before Iraq is able to defend itself from terrorists is short sighted. Sticking our collective heads in the sand and hoping that by pulling our troops out we'll be safe is a ridiculous notion.
Once terrorists have taken over Iraq, we will be fighting militants in our streets instead of the streets of Baghdad, and we will be dodging IEDs on trips to the grocery story instead of our fantastic military fending them off in Basrah and Fallujah.
I don't understand the fascination with leaving Iraq before it is a stable country. Even though the war is not popular and right now it a bloody war of street fighting, it is still something we have to finish. Quite frankly, now that we are there, we must stay until the job is complete. If we leave tomorrow and Iraq is taken over by terrorists the next day, we will have no one but ourselves to blame.
Right now, our brave men and women in the field are contesting the radical anti-American sentiment shared by terrorist organizations, and we are slowly but surely killing off significant parts of Al Qaeda and other extremist groups. But if we leave, those groups will have a much more convenient base of operations from which to launch attacks on the U.S.
Has anyone noticed that since the war in Iraq began, there has not been a single attack on our soil? No? Well, there hasn't, and it's not coincidence; when Osama Bin Laden demands that we leave Iraq, we know that we're doing something right.
Bin Laden wants our troops out; are we taking marching orders from terrorist leaders now, or are we going to stand by our actions and finish what we started?
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