Draw Down in Iraq a Positive First Step

Friday, June 26, 2009

Christopher A. Preble, director of foreign policy studiescpreble@cato.org:

The withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities is just the first step in a long process of finally bringing the ruinous Iraq war to a close. It's what Americans want. It's what Iraqis want. Most importantly, it's the right thing to do.

A rash of recent bombings and terrorist attacks have raised fears that violence has been kept down by the U.S. presence, and that it will spike as our forces there are drawn down. There are valid concerns that Iraqi security forces are not up to the high standards of the U.S. military, or that Iraq could lapse back into civil war. But those risks will be there if U.S. troops stay for five years, or 50. The future of Iraq lies with the people of Iraq, and the Iraqi government, and it is well past the time when they must take the reins.

Of course, the same thing could be said of many other countries and governments around the world. If President Obama lives up to his promise to end the war, and bring all the troops home, it could signal a willingness to truly change the course of U.S. foreign policy in a direction that advances U.S. security, and at far less cost than our current strategy.

Americans want, and will support, change. What they should not tolerate is the status quo: countless solemn pledges of burden sharing -- of allowing others to stand up so that we can stand down -- that are never fulfilled. For decades, the United States has been in the business of doing for other governments what they should be doing for themselves. Now would be a good time to start to change this pattern.

Iraq is a test case for this change. Nothing that happens there should divert us from a new course.

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