Drumming For Withdrawal

Kevin Drum believes it's time the U.S. packs its bags and gets the hell out of Iraq. There's nothing really new here and I'm pretty much in agreement with him as long as the U.N. or some other bloc of nations steps into the fray to help with security. But the one thing I did want to acknowledge from Kevin's post is this:

I don't think there's any question that we owed the Iraqi people a sustained and intense effort to rebuild their country. We are, after all, the ones who invaded and occupied it in a war of choice.

No American should forget this. The U.S. government has always been the Iraqi people's worst enemy. It was the U.S. government that armed Hussein and enabled him to pursue his whacked out fantasies of becoming the reincarnation of the Arab leader, Saladin. It was the U.S. that pursued a sanction policy that killed at most 500,000 children while continuously bombing Iraq's public infrastructure. Now the Iraqi people have had to endure the U.S. invasion and occupation of their country, which has helped turn their country into the epicenter of jihad.

If the U.S. doesn't do everything in its power to help Iraq become a prosperous, democratic state (which could very well mean drawing down troop levels), then the U.S. shouldn't be considered the champion of liberty we all like to think it is.

POSTSCRIPT: Whatever does happen regarding a draw down of troops or an immediate withdrawal, I must say the U.S., and I hope much of the internationalist left, understands that this country must not go jihadist. That is the worst possibility for not only the people of Iraq, but for the West in general. Those who call for an immediate withdrawal without a plan to continue the fight against the thugs of Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia I must say are morally vacuous and have little concern for Iraq or those who have fallen believing they were indeed fighting for freedom and democracy.