I have often failed to understand the urgency for pulling US troops out of Iraq…
Have you stopped to ponder the quantity of US soldiers located in various countries around the world? It is 60 years since the end of World War II and there are still over 70,000 US troops in Germany and nearly 50,000 in Japan — 60 years after the end of the war!! Meanwhile, there are still nearly 40,000 US soldiers policing the border in Korea (more than 40 years after the end of that conflict). Thus, the quantity of US soldiers in these three countries alone exceeds those in Iraq.
While it’s unfortunate that nearly 3,000 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq, and we have been spending billions of dollars to support a strong presence in the Middle East, you have to assess that cost as part of our overall role as a superpower. Given the strategic importance of the Middle East and the free flow of oil, my conclusion is that it makes absolute sense to maintain a military presence in Iraq.
I think James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal summed it up best: “America’s cowardice and al Qaeda’s are as different in their origins as in their forms. Ours grows out of strength and comfort; theirs, out of weakness and depravity. Both, however, are dangerous to civilization.”