"It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit...
At first, we believed that after destroying Iraq’s government, army, police and economic structures, the United States was obliged to try to accomplish some of the goals Mr. Bush claimed to be pursuing, chiefly building a stable, unified Iraq. When it became clear that the president had neither the vision nor the means to do that, we argued against setting a withdrawal date while there was still some chance to mitigate the chaos that would most likely follow...
Continuing to sacrifice the lives and limbs of American soldiers is wrong. The war is sapping the strength of the nation’s alliances and its military forces. It is a dangerous diversion from the life-and-death struggle against terrorists. It is an increasing burden on American taxpayers, and it is a betrayal of a world that needs the wise application of American power and principles...
Despite President Bush’s repeated claims, Al Qaeda had no significant foothold in Iraq before the invasion, which gave it new base camps, new recruits and new prestige...
This war diverted Pentagon resources from Afghanistan, where the military had a real chance to hunt down Al Qaeda’s leaders. It alienated essential allies in the war against terrorism. It drained the strength and readiness of American troops. And it created a new front where the United States will have to continue to battle terrorist forces and enlist local allies who reject the idea of an Iraq hijacked by international terrorists. The military will need resources and bases to stanch this self- inflicted wound for the foreseeable future...
President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have used demagoguery and fear to quell Americans’ demands for an end to this war. They say withdrawing will create bloodshed and chaos and encourage terrorists. Actually, all of that has already happened — the result of this unnecessary invasion and the incompetent management of this war...
This country faces a choice. We can go on allowing Mr. Bush to drag out this war without end or purpose. Or we can insist that American troops are withdrawn as quickly and safely as we can manage — with as much effort as possible to stop the chaos from spreading."
My $.02: By any definition, our intervention in Iraq is now a tragedy, and one that will continue for some time. How sad, really. The war against terror was never in Iraq, until we put it there. And we've seriously delayed, if not lost altogether, the chance to defeat our real terrorist enemies, once confined largely to Afghanistan. Instead, we've created what will prove to be a nearly endless, regional conflict -- a veritible terrorist recruiting campaign -- which will foster decades of resentment towards America, making us continually vulnerable to terrorist attack.
We should have heeded former US General, WWII hero and Republican President Eisenhower's warning (see it here) that the 'military industrial complex' (his phrase) would do its best to keep us in a constant state of (for them, profitable) war if allowed to do so.
It appears that Cheney, Halliburton and the other war profiteers can justly claim "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq. And poor George Bush appears to have been a perfect patsy for them.
And the more than 2 million refugees, nearly 750,000 Iraqi civilian casualities, nearly 4,000 US and Coalition military casualties, the less than 3,000 people who died on September 11, 2001 in whose name this war was supposedly fought, and the next few generations of Americans who must now live in fear -- all of us, really -- are the losers.
For the full text of the New York Times editorial on ending the war in Iraq, click here.
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