Why our troops must leave Iraq

Oct. 4, 2006

Most Iraqis now hate Americans and can’t wait for us to get the hell out of their country. More alarmingly, the number of Iraqis who feel this way is still growing.
If you doubt this fact, as I did, you probably haven’t seen the latest polls from Iraq, itself. These results hit me like a thunderbolt, but unfortunately didn’t attract many headlines in the U.S.
The shocking conclusions from the latest independent study shows that 61% of Iraqis approve attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq. Not attacks “by” our troops, they support attacks “on” the U.S. military.
And I was surprised earlier this year over results of a similar poll that said 47% of Iraqis approved of the violence against American troops? Now, six out of ten Iraqis apparently want us dead – roughly 15 million people. Isn’t this the same nation we freed from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein? With friends like these, no wonder there is little time, lately, to track down al-Qaeda terrorists.
We know that few Iraqis embraced our troops with open arms as promised in 2003. The Iraqi people did seem open, though, to the creation of a U.S. supported democratic state. Today, embracing Iraqi arms seem to be more symbolic of an AK-47 in one hand and a stinger missile in the other – aimed at us.
Dispelling any notion that only terrorists were polled in the above-mentioned survey, this study of Iraqis also found an overwhelming negative opinion of Osama bin Laden and a majority disapproval of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
It should be obvious by the polls and the unrelenting carnage in Iraq that forcing our troops on Iraqis is not presently a viable solution. And just when do the Iraqi people want us to leave? The same survey asked that question and concluded over half of the general Iraqi population wants U.S. troops out within a year.
According to the Washington Post, the U.S. State Department conducted its own study and found that two-thirds of Baghdad’s residents prefer our forces leave Iraq immediately. If these poll numbers are even half-accurate, it is surely time to begin planning our departure from this nightmare better known as Iraq.
Regardless of whether you agreed with the original invasion of Iraq or not, most Americans want our troops to stay for now. Anti-Iraqi War notables Al Gore and Jimmy Carter even support keeping the U.S. military in Iraq without a defined exit date. Until this watershed moment, I have not supported bringing the troops home because the alternative seemed to be all-out civil war there.
Well, we are now on the brink of the worst-case scenario. Iraq is engulfed in a sectarian war with our troops caught in the middle of a population that hates us. But does standard military wisdom dictate that foreign troops should automatically leave a nation when most of its citizens wish it? Of course not - it depends on the circumstances.
In this case, Iraq is a nation that did not attack us - President Bush recently agreed that Iraq had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01. At this juncture, the presence of American troops in Iraq, supposedly, is to help its people achieve freedom. Shouldn’t they be free to expect foreign forces to leave when we are no longer wanted?
Our country has now spent more than $300 billion on resurrecting Iraq. Even more staggering is the growing human cost – almost 2700 American lives lost, tens of thousands seriously wounded and many thousands more suffering with post-traumatic-stress-disorder. After three and a half years, it is time for the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own country.
Maybe good can actually come from their population turning on us. You can bet that Iraqis would be more likely to get their act together if our military suddenly announced to them, “You’ve got your wish, people. We are out of here.”