This is a tough issue in the political discourse in this country. On one side, they are mixing the old Vietnam rhetoric (“Make love not war!”) with a dash of the First Gulf War (“No blood for oil!”) and a healthy dose of more recent political dialogue (“Bush lied people died!”) Creating a raging hurricane of hatred for the opposing side. (Guess which side that is!) On the other side is, not so much chants as mild statements, of “Stay the course.” “You broke it you bought it.” “We’re fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here.”
Honorable people can debate whether or not it was a good thing to have gone in, but what shouldn’t be in the political discourse is should we leave or should we stay. It is pointless to deny the complete and utter success of the surge started in the spring of 2007. The rallying of Sunni and Shiite militias to fight the onslaught of terror, the success of the Iraqi Security Forces in major terror cities like Sadr City, the fact that estimated enemy forces are now one-tenth of what they were at the beginning of the insurgency, that in the last three months the death toll has been the lowest since the beginning of the war. To deny this is to deny reality.
But what disturbs me is the fact that there are people out there that recognize this and just shrug it off and keep demanding to pull out now. People, for whatever reason, cannot seem to understand that if you leave the field of battle before total victory is achieved it is called a defeat. A technical defeat, but a defeat none the less. And if we lose then the enemy who we have been beating back for five years will win. Why don’t they understand that?! If you are losing a basketball game in the first quarter but then pull ahead by ten points in the second, do you say “I’m not sure we can win this.” and walk away? Except the consequences of losing will not just be being second in a game.
Let me give you a scenario and let’s see what war it belongs to:
You are the leader of a major super power, your super power, America let’s say, entered into a war with a fascistic ideology with global domination on their to do list, the complete and utter destruction of the Jewish people is also a very high priority to them. You’ve been fighting with this ideology for several years before you got a foothold in their area of influence. Things don’t appear to be going well but after a string of victories against the enemy on the field of battle, total victory seems within your grasp. What do you do?
Option 1: Stay the course and finish the job.
Option 2: Pull out and leave the world for the wolves.
I’ll give you some time to make your decision.
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Okay times up.
If you picked Option 1 then congratulations, you just won World War 2 for us. As a reward you get an imaginary five!
Option 2 people, (Insert Sarcasm) thanks for letting the Nazis take over the world! As a reward you get to feel responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions of people and get to live in a worldwide dictatorship!
When you read the above situation, did you think of Iraq? I bet you did! Though the time era is different, the situation is still the same. The only difference between the Nazis and the terrorists we are fighting today is religion. Islamofascism, Totalitarian Islam, Islamic Extremism; take your pick they are all the same. Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, the Republican Guard; different faces of the same enemy.
When we invaded Europe in 1944, we didn’t say the France War or the Holland War is going well. No, we said THE War is going well. The battles raging in Afghanistan and Iraq are not in separate wars, it is one war. We are in the midst of the Third World War and if we don’t win, the results will be catastrophic.
I have debated this issue with several Liberals, but none to date can give me a good answer to the following question: “If we were to pull out of Iraq tomorrow, what would happen?” sure, they’ll say “It’ll get better since we’re gone.” (Say in a high-pitched voice) History, on the other hand, gives me another answer. Did things get better when we left Vietnam in 1975? Did things get better after we stopped supporting the Kurds in 1974? Did things get better when we stopped supporting the Afghans in 1989? Did things get better when we left Somalia in 1993? Did things get better after the U.N. pulled out of Rwanda in 1994? The simple answer is: no! When we left Vietnam we let the Communists take over causing the deaths of millions in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. When we stopped supporting the Kurds when they need us most in the middle of a civil war the Iraqi government displaced or killed over a million of them. When we stopped supporting the Afghans, it caused a civil war that lasted seven years and allowed for the Taliban to come out on top. When we left Somalia we let the country plunge into full anarchy which is still intact to this day resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands if not millions of people. When the U.N. pulled out of Rwanda it gave the green light to Hutu rebels to slaughter Tutsis en masse resulting in the deaths of over a million people.
I am okay with people disagreeing over whether or not we should’ve gone in. what I am not okay with is people saying we should pull out of Iraq immediately. You are a fool if you want to leave without a semblance of stability! You do not care if the Iraqis live or die! You have utter contempt for them and are so selfish that you think exporting freedom, one of the inalienable rights to all humans, is a bad thing! The New York Times itself said that if we leave, there might very well be genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the normal list of crimes against humanity. But since you who wish to pull out don’t care about them, maybe you care about us.
If we leave, there will not be peace. The forces of evil (if you cannot identify those we are fighting as evil then you are a morally confused person) will sweep across that country, letting loose the blood of everyone who helped the Iraqi government and us. Every Iraqi official will be killed, I’d like to think that they would simply be shot, but the odds are not good that their deaths would be that quick. The terrorists will say, “We won,” and to celebrate they will intensify their attacks on Israel. Iraq will become the new terror capital of the world. At the sight of victory, Islamofascists the world over will slowly but surely begin to rise up. Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and Israel; they will be swept away in the storm. Over 50% of Europe’s Muslims believe in the radical ideology of Islamofascism. They will rise up; the ensuing civil wars will be unprecedented in their violence and bloodshed. Iran won’t need a missile to deliver its nuclear warhead(s); all they need is a suicide bomber with a brief case. Even if we win in the end, the death and destruction will be similar to what we saw at the end of the Second World War. But if we lose…I’d rather not think about it. Let’s just say that liberty once lost it is rarely ever found again.
All of this because of why? Because you who wanted to pull out, you wanted a quick fix. Here is news flash for you: there are no quick fixes in life! Permanent peace is built on the back of war. Temporary peace, genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass murder, etc. is built on the back of pacifism. As Thomas Paine said, “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.”
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