Staying the course will lead to success by Chris Haliskoe
The war in Iraq is one of the most unpopular wars of all time. In the past four years, nearly 3,000 soldiers have lost their lives. The seriousness of this matter is one we cannot begin to comprehend. But even though things have not gone the way we planned and just because sacrifices have been made, this does not mean it is time to withdraw our troops.
Iraq was wrong in its non-compliance with the United Nations.
To examine the situation in Iraq, you must go back to the decision to invade. Although he may have had some influence on it, this was not a decision made by the President.
In March 2003, following supporting votes of 77-23 in the Senate and 296-133 in the House of Representatives, the U.S., along with countries such as UK, Australia, and South Korea, invaded Iraq. At the time of invasion 73 percent of the American public agreed with our actions.
In the end, the President would admit to acting on false intelligence. The question is not who to blame for the lack of intelligence, but if the invasion was justified.
Evil cannot be ignored.
Another concern during the time of the invasion was that of the safety of the Iraqi people. Iraq’s democracy in 2003 is just as important as our democracy was in 1776.
Iraq is also an area of interest to the United States. Our vantage point in the Middle East, especially the oil that Iraq supplies, is pivotal to our nation.
After the invasion, things began to turn for the U.S.-led coalition. The pains started when France refused to back the coalition and send troops into Iraq. The morale died when we did not find weapons of mass destruction. That caused Congress to cut funding.
Without French support, morale and funding, we are expected to win a war against an enemy with which we cannot negotiate surrender. The invasion was right, but the forces need to be supported.
Even with all these obstacles, two major accomplishments have been achieved. One of the world’s most dangerous people, Saddam Hussein, was captured. After years of dictatorship, Iraqi people experience the joy of democracy in their first election.
More accomplishments are to come if we stay the course. Democracy can fully be instilled in the Iraqi government. Staying may lead to capturing of terrorists, including Osama Bin Laden. The greatest possible result would be peace in the Middle East.
These later goals require a great deal of time, given the complicated situation in Iraq. We need more time to fight one of the most difficult wars of all time.
Now that we are in Iraq, we have no choice but to stay the course. The public must except this and stand behind the soldiers.
If we withdraw our troops, there is a great possibility that the insurgency will connect with the terrorist because of their common hatred of the U.S. If we leave our position on the offensive, we may quickly find ourselves on the defense.
Giving the insurgency, the feeling of victory may yield them to an elevated confidence that they can take over the Middle East.
Our stakes are simply too high to withdraw.
Iraq’s “blatant fallacies” prove need for new leadership by Katie Barry
Nearly 3,000 soldiers dead, $340 billion spent, a civil war on the horizon and no end in sight. The Iraq War is, at best, a misguided quagmire; at worst, an unnecessary disaster.
Pulling on the heartstrings of a nation devastated by the attacks of September 11, President George W. Bush led Americans into a war based on the belief that a madman, Saddam Hussein, had the ability to procure weapons of mass destruction. Our nation’s safety depended on ousting this man, we were told. The war would be quick and victory was guaranteed, they promised. None of it was true.
In March 2003, Bush sat in front of our nation and told us this war was necessary, and more importantly, justified.
“Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised,” he said.
WMDs were never found, nor was there any evidence towards a concrete weapons program.
The blatant fallacies that put us in this situation are reason enough to call the war unmitigated and unethical. The way the war was handled in its immediate onset and its eventual long-term fallout are reason to call it a calamity of unforeseen proportions.
The war was based on the idea that victory would be accomplished after a small number of battles; no one – not the President, not the secretary of defense – was prepared for an almost three-year conflict. There was no Phase IV plan; no plan on what to do after Saddam was removed.
In addition to a complete and utter lack of preparation, troop strength was, and continues to be, grossly inadequate.
“They chose to go into battle with a ground combat capability that was inadequate,” said Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey in Thomas Rick’s best-selling book “Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq.”
There were not enough soldiers to secure the border with Syria, allowing insurgents’ easy access into and out of the country, and disabling them from stopping the looting that desecrated a nation. There were not enough soldiers to secure bunkers, allowing Iraqi insurgents to arm themselves at ease. And there are not enough soldiers to battle a rising civil war that gets worse every day. There were never enough soldiers to win.
The situation in Iraq seems to only get worse by the day. October was one of the deadliest months for American soldiers in Iraq. The United Nations says approximately 97 Iraqi civilians are dying per day. Millions if Iraqis are unemployed, with no real economy to fall back on. Suicide bombs are far from uncommon, as are roadside and car bombs. We are losing. And, similar to March 2003, we still have no plan other than Bush’s “stay the course.”
We, as a country, need to make a conscious effort to continue to elect dedicated and intelligent individuals who are willing to fix the mistakes Bush and company have made – individuals who will realize that staying the course is no longer an option.
Thousands of lives – and the course of a nation – depend upon it.
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