Iraq or Afghanistan
Snowy Saturday, March 8, 2008
The NYT again had an article (from last week's paper) which summed up my feelings about Iraq. This time via quoting McCain:
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Senator McCain, the likely Republican nominee, makes a de facto argument that Iraq and Afghanistan are two sides of the same coin. "Senator Clinton and Senator Obama will withdraw our forces from Iraq based on an arbitrary timetable designed for the sake of political expediency and which recklessly ignores the profound human calamity and dire threats to our security that would ensue," Mr. McCain said in a Feb. 7 speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Distilled to its simplest form, Mr. McCain's argument is that withdrawing from Iraq would make Americans less safe in the long run, because a withdrawal would embolden Al Qaeda, put American interests at risk in the Middle East, and make an already volatile region less safe.1 |
I believe this to be the case with the exception that I no longer fear that either of the Dem's will pull out recklessly. I think the political realities at the time will force whoever is president to stay in. I don't think either Clinton or Obama are dogmatic enough to stick to the "peace" plan as envisioned by the far left.
I quote "peace" because I believe if the US simply pulled out of Iraq that hundreds of thousands of people would die as a direct result. It just wouldn't be American lives. In the same way that people call for the US to put our troops into harm's way in Darfur to save lives, I believe we must stay in Iraq to save lives.
Don't get me wrong, I think it was a huge strategic and ideological mistake to invade Iraq in 2003. But that's old news. Now, that we've stirred up the hornet's nest we have to follow a different course.
I consider both Iraq and Afghanistan equally important. I would like to see an increase in troop levels in both of these hot spots. I hope that in Afghanistan we can convince more partners to join us, but I think we should stay even if they leave. Frankly, I'd love to see the US partner with Russia in Afghanistan. Maybe the two of us together can do what neither so far has done alone.