Invading Iraq was a bad idea, but doesn’t conversely mean leaving is a good idea. World politics are not that simple.
In an interview with Larry King on Feb. 14, Sen. John McCain, R., Az. said "… both Sen. Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. Clinton, D- N.Y., want to set a date for withdrawal – that means chaos, that means genocide, that means undoing all the success we’ve achieved and al Qaeda tells the world they defeated the United States of America. I won’t let that happen."
The Arizona Senator hit the nail on the head. We invaded Iraq without an exit plan – we didn’t think ahead. The Republicans manipulated public opinion to garner support. This time the Democrats are manipulating us in the same way to get elected; they’re asking us to leave without thinking about the consequences.
The problems in Iraq are multi-faceted, not simplistic issues requiring just the naive solution they have put forward.
Firstly, Iraq was previously ruled by a tyrant. People have a habit of going overboard when meting out justice to violently disarmed autocratic regimes. We can be proud of removing Saddam Hussein from power, but look at the way he was treated when he was hanged. We need to understand the reaction of the Iraqis: they are angry and want revenge. The people will not be satisfied only with his death alone, since they have suffered his tyranny for years. We should expect more calls for violence against their fellow Iraqis – his fellow Ba’ath party members.
Secondly, tribalism is still strong in Iraq. The people have not forgotten Hussein tribal family. Victims of his regime will try their best to kill off even his distant relatives. After all, tribal societies function on the ethos of retaliation. They view this simply as justice.
Complicating all this is the fact that Iraq is a multi-religious and multi-ethnic country. Diverse groups are attacking and killing not only each other, but also our troops.
The Sunni-Shiite blood feud has been going on for centuries; so don’t expect them to resolve it on their own any time soon.
The minority Sunnis will be butchered by the Shiite majority, the Kurds will try to gain political and military power over the Shiites, leading to conflict. Iran will step in to help their Shiite brothers, upsetting Sunni Saudi Arabia who will not stand idly by. The minority Allawites of Syria will take a lesson from this and tighten their grip on power. Turkey is already in Iraq attacking the Kurds, so we can expect them to run roughshod over northern Iraq.
It would be facetious to say leaving Iraq will cause a little regional tension. Sen. McCain couldn’t be more right; talk of leaving Iraq is talk of allowing genocide. Imagine what will happen to gas prices when two of the largest oil producing nations, Iran and Saudi Arabia, are involved in an international conflict. Furthermore, the U.S. is already infamous for abandoning its allies in the east, particularly its Muslim allies. The world will remember for invading Iraq for the wrong reasons-and causing the deaths of millions by abandoning the Iraqi people in their hour of need. It doesn’t matter if we are unpopular in Iraq right now.
The rural, conservative and xenophobic Muslims in the Middle East and elsewhere will be persuaded by Islamists to join their jihad against us.
Voters are concerned about their friends and family members serving in Iraq and want to bring them home. I can appreciate that, but public desire does not change the reality of our international interests and national security.
Ahmad, a political science senior, can be reached via [email protected]
