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The Senate recently passed a bill that sets an timetable, including troop withdrawal dates, for the war in Iraq. While the bill barely passed the Senate, and is therefore well short of the two-thirds vote necessary to override the impending veto from President Bush, it is a step in the right direction.
Democrats (and most Americans) are celebrating the idea that Bush would finally face some accountability in his war debacle, and troops would finally start coming back from a stale and increasingly sectarian war. However, Congressional Republicans are denouncing the bill as a surrender date that we would be handing the enemy.
But the enemy already knows almost everyone in the United States is unhappy about the war and wants to leave. It does not take a master of intellect to realize that Americans are becoming increasingly unhappy with the United States’ role in the war and support troop withdrawal in the near future. If the Republican leadership’s aim was to conceal American unrest about the war, then they have failed almost as badly as they did in the actual war.
Secondly, when the leadership starts talking about indefinite (or in this case, nonexistent) timetables, images of the Vietnam wall next to the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., flash through my mind. Consider World War II. The United States fought the war on two massive fronts, against enemies who had fortified their positions for years. That war only lasted about four years after the United States became involved before they defeated both enemies. In that time spent in the relatively small country of Iraq, the same cannot be said. Nothing has been accomplished, except for the execution of a deposed dictator.
If the United States does not set a firm time table, the fledgling Iraqi army will do what the South Vietnamese did and rely on the United States for 15 years or so. Even though I do not feel it is necessary to point out the implications of such a long occupation, I will anyway.
Lives. The amount of American and Iraqi lives that would be lost would be astronomical. Also, an occupation of that magnitude would heavily influence our relations and dealings with other countries in the region, such as the volatile Iran (is currently imprisoning 15 British troops on dubious charges). Sooner or later, scenarios like this will play out with American soldiers instead of Britons (notice that they are already on the way out of Iraq).
Obviously, the recently passed bill is a good idea. Passing the Senate is a good first step because the bill shows Americans that a possible end is in sight, despite the Republican leadership’s best efforts. Although, I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt here and just say that their “surrender date” straw man was not the best effort.
Hopefully this bill will encourage others to stand up against the Republican rhetoric of “surrender dates” and the like, even if it is axed by Bush, and cannot muster the necessary two-thirds vote. It is a showing of Americans’ resolve to rectify the mistake of the war in Iraq. Americans should not be intimidated by the claim of a “surrender date.” The enemy already knew it was coming. Now it is just about doing what is right for the United States and our soldiers.
Submitted 03-29-2007
MALIBU, CA
