House and Senate Democrats have been pushing hard in the last couple of weeks for a quick pullout of troops in Iraq. This latest attempt, fresh on the heels of the Senate's failure to pass the bipartisan, though publicly maligned, Immigration Reform Bill, culminated in last night's all-night House debate on a troop pullout bill. This political charade had the tired stereotypes of a television movie-of-the-week: photo-ops of cots being brought in for tired lawmakers, staffers dispatched for toothpaste and toothbrushes, and the movie-of-the-week gold standard-an outcome everyone already knows before the circus even started (the measure was defeated by the margin almost universally predicted).
What most troubles me about these latest calls for a troop pullout is not the incessant talking heads on TV or Cindy Sheehan or even the few Republicans who have recently changed their stance and are aligning themselves with the Democrats on the withdrawal, it is the horrifyingly negligent proposals lawmakers are putting forth. The recent Democratic proposals to pullout U.S troop from Iraq have no provisions or plans to deal with Sunni - Shi'a bloodbath that would ensue. For all the power they hold as lawmakers (not to mention recent hindsight), the Democrats' refusal to deal with the obvious question of what would happen if the troops up and left is on even par with the Bush Administration's failure to adequately prepare for the Iraqi insurgency that has put us in this mess in the first place.
A speedy pullout of U.S. troops would result in, as a National Intelligence Estimate predicted, "massive civilian casualties," or what President Bush called "mass killings on a horrific scale," or what the Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari warned would lead to the "collapse of the state," or even what bipartisan Iraq Study Group wrote that a premature withdrawal would lead to "greater human suffering, regional destabilization and a threat to the global economy."
Anyone with an eye to anything short of their own political health seems to agree that a U.S. troop pullout too soon would result in unspeakable calamity. What should horrify the American public is the myopic policy focus lawmakers seem to be advancing that could spell unspeakable doom for the Iraqis, and the Middle East overall.
The Democrats failure to account for the most obvious effects of a hasty troop pullout was the focus of Wednesday's excellent Los Angeles Times front page article: Pullout proposal lacking a Plan B (yes, you read that right, the double entendre is noted). The Times article reveals an shocking sense of ignorance on the part of lawmakers toward any solution in Iraq other than bringing the troops home, damn the consequences to the Iraqis, the stability of the region, our world standing, and our own security. Whose interests are these lawmakers representing? It seems that the Cut and Run tactic has become the smart choice politically? The only thing that seems to matter now is the political benefit of standing tough against the Bush Administration, for Democrats and Republicans alike.
What strikes me as the real motivation for this push to pullout of Iraq is the Democratic leadership's fear of the political baggage the Iraq War will be for their Presidential nominee and, possibly, future President. They want the Bush Administration to begin the pullout of troops before he leaves office, damn the consequences, so the next president will inherit an Iraq solution in the works instead of the excruciating slow, tiring, and bloody pace now evidenced.
This tactic is the worst kind of political ambition. How is this tactic different than those employed by suicide bombers or pro-life abortion clinic bombers? Brute-force political change no matter what the consequences-is this what masquerades as virtue or governance in Washington?
No American, regardless of party affiliation, is content with the progress in Iraq. We all want our soldiers out of harm's way and are increasingly uneasy with the pathologically inhuman tactics of the insurgency in Iraq. The monumental bungling of pre-war intelligence and staggering incompetence in post-invasion security by the Bush Administration is a sad fact but the situation at-hand is what it is. However, we cannot and should not debate a troop pullout without taking into account what effect that decision will have on the Iraqis whose country stands in the balance of total obliteration if we leave abruptly.
Deciding to remove the troops too soon while tacitly ignoring the acknowledged, bloody certainty of ethnic genocide that would ensue, as well as destabilization throughout the entire region, would be a moral evil that would haunt this country for generations. The lives of millions of Iraqis and the stability of the Middle East should not be sacrificed by lawmakers bent singularly on the apparent political benefit of bringing the troops home before their job is complete.
If Congressional Democrats can chart a better course for Iraq, let them bring one forward. A quick pullout of U.S. troops is not a solution, it's a cheap stunt - one that could spell unspeakable doom for millions in Iraq and the for entire Middle East region overall.
