Dear Editor, It is difficult deciding whether to withdraw our
troops ASAP. It is not difficult however, to see that we must
withdraw our troops in the immediate future.
Dear Editor,
It is difficult deciding whether to withdraw our troops ASAP. It is not difficult however, to see that we must withdraw our troops in the immediate future. We should not be in Iraq because there is no victory in sight, there is no definition of victory, there were no WMDs, we are depleting our military, innocent people are needlessly dying, Iraq was not connected to Al-Qaeda, the “War on Terror” cannot be won, and we have created a civil war. The baffling thing to me is why the debate continues.
Let’s start with the first reason for invasion. We are attacked and feel that something must be done. So, when the administration first purposed that we invade Iraq, most agreed. We were told Sadamm Hussein had WMD’s. But when there were no WMDs, the CIA was humiliated. A reasonable person would expect us to immediately withdraw. That did not happen.
The threat of WMDs was the first reason for invasion, but it would not be the last. I read a quote by Kevin Tillman, the brother of Army hero Pat Tillman, which explains the ridiculousness of “Staying the Course.” I quote: “Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks, or received weapon grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war that we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is.”
I thought that maybe things would change if we were to have a nonpartisan look at the situation in Iraq. The Iraq Study Group was a 10-person bipartisan panel appointed March 15, 2006, by the U.S. Congress. Its job was to asses the situation in Iraq. According the report, the Iraq Study Group had “strongly urged” a large pull back of American troops. According to the report’s executive summary it stated: “The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating.” So after this report any reasonable person would suggest troop withdrawal. But that did not happen.
A few more critical points. The Bush administration tied Hussein to Al Qaeda. Not true. The fact is, since the execution of Hussein terrorism has increased. I also must mention that we have lost nearly 3,600 American lives do to this “War on Terror.” Just as many Iraqis are dying now than when Hussein was dictator. We have created a civil war that cannot be resolved. We must just do our best to mitigate the problem without depleting our military. The only thing we can do is withdraw from Iraq in the immediate future.
Kevin Moyles, Gilroy
