Pro vs. Con: America should support Bush’s new plan for Iraq

By Joe Baker
Collegian Staff
January 24, 2007

President George W. Bush’s Jan. 10 address to the nation on his “New Way Forward” in Iraq made it abundantly clear that the situation in that fledging democracy is grim, indeed. Myriad opinion polls show an American public that is increasingly frustrated with the current policy in Iraq, due to a rising U.S. death toll that has been magnified tremendously by the complete absence of any sign of progress in quelling the brutal cycle of sectarian war that is unraveling in the struggling nation.

The way I see it, the United States is currently faced with three possible choices for the way to approach the future of American involvement in Iraq: the complete and immediate pullout of all U.S. forces, a phased redeployment or withdrawal of U.S. forces over a four to six month time frame or the President’s much-criticized plan of a “surge” of a little more than 20,000 additional troops strategically throughout the country. Any plan should be coupled with the institution of several key recommendations made by the Iraq Study Group.

In order to understand the feasibility of the proposed policies, it is first necessary to reassess the goal of America in Iraq. Despite the small, yet disturbingly increasing, portion of the far-left crowd that ignorantly pushes for an immediate withdrawal regardless of the far-reaching effects on the people of Iraq and the Middle East at large, it is safe to say that the realistic goal of U.S. forces has now become the complete handing over of security and control of all 18 Iraqi provinces to its own people, while both limiting U.S. casualties and providing a basic level of stability and security to allow the Iraqi government to politically pursue a plan that works toward some semblance of a lasting peace.

This basic level of stability is an absolute necessity before any withdrawal can occur because the consequences of leaving behind an unstable Iraq are unthinkable. With no stability, and lacking the vital assistance of U.S. man power and skill, the already trembling Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would soon crumble, leaving the country ripe for the development of a regional power struggle between the competing sectarian and political interests of Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran, resulting in a genocide that would create a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. Instability would also cause Iraq to develop into a safe haven for al-Qaeda and other international terror groups to grow in strength and support, setting the movement towards a more moderate and peaceful Middle East back decades, and further endangering the safety of America and its European allies.

With the consequences of a premature U.S. withdrawal established, it must be asked how best to go about achieving this stability. As is clear through the daily headlines, the current approach is faltering. The Iraqi security forces are not ready to take full control of the country, and the United States is lacking the man power to perfect the clear, hold and build strategy that many military experts agree to be the only way to achieve that stability necessary to predicate a U.S. withdrawal. The push for a gradual drawdown/redeployment of U.S. forces that would allow the Iraqis to “stand up as we stand down,” as championed by the few criticizers of the Bush plan who actually choose to propose an alternative approach to a surge, would not allow for enough troops necessary to stabilize Iraq and thus would prevent the Iraqi political process and reconstruction efforts from strengthening.

We are faced with no easy choice as to how to proceed in Iraq, but we must choose the path that will allow us to realize our goal. This will require both a staunch commitment to the Iraqi people from the Bush Administration, as well as serious benchmarks established by al-Maliki to prove his willingness to put aside sectarian differences and allow all militias in his country to be destroyed. From the limited number of paths that remain, the temporary troop surge, despite the immediate inevitable increase of American lives lost, is the only attempt thus far proposed that would create the general stability that must predicate all future political progress in Iraq and that would allow our brave heroes to return home.

bakerj2@lasalle.edu