On getting out of Iraq…

The current situation can be summarized as “damned if U.S. pull out of Iraq now, damned if the U.S. stay forever” with very little nuances in between. Without question, we’ve created a hell of a mess; the right thing for America to do would be to clean it up, however that view begs several comments.

First as our total incompetence took four years to create the present chaos, the odds of us being able to turn things around are really not in our favor. Maybe someone other than the United States would be better at fixing things.

Second, the vicious cycle of civil unrest and violence is likely to take place whether we’re present or not. From the lootings to the car bombs and suicide bombes the U.S. troops have played the role of passive witnesses, rarely engaging the insurgents. The Iraqis forces are no better and are for the most part involved with the insurgency and the various militias.

As some say, the tooth paste is now out of the tube and we can’t put it back in. If we leave the scene, things might deteriorate even faster; if we stay around longer, the civil violence might be somewhat protracted, but Iraq will end up at the same level, minus the additional number of American and British troops that will be killed and wounded and the ill-will that a military presence in the middle-east creates.

The net result is that we, the United States will be better off, the Iraqis would be as bad, and of course we would look bad, but for that latter part I have a solution to propose in my next message…