Iraq Pull Out -- Not An Option

During the Vietnam era there were many on the left and a few of the more soft spoken on the right who wanted President Lyndon Johnson to end the war. In fact at that time it was Senator George Aiken who advised President Johnson in 1967 to, "DECLARE A VICTORY AND WITHDRAW." The advice was ignored. In fact his phrase has remained part of the country's vocabulary.

Columnist Gary North authored an article titled, U.S. Pull-Out from Iraq in 2005 on September 30, 2004 at LewRockwell.com - an anti war blog site. Reflecting on the Vietnam war he wrote,

"Eventually we did pull out and no pretense of victory was declared. We suffered a clean-cut defeat. A bunch of men in black pajamas beat us."

On a day when a U.S. marine is under investigation for shooting a wounded Iraqi in the head in Fallujah see TalkLeft.com we are being torn in two between fighting insurgents and discussion of a possible pull out after the January elections.

In contrast to this British Prime Minister Tony Blair called upon the United States on Monday to "reach out" to its international partners, and warned Europeans to stop heaping "ridicule" on US policy. In a keynote foreign affairs speech in London, Blair -- just back from talks in Washington last week with re-elected US President George W. Bush -- sought to forge warmer ties across the North Atlantic in the wake of the Iraq war.

Blair stressed the need for the United Nations to play a more substantial leadership role in pressing for reforms in autocratic states.

"None of this will work, however, unless America too reaches out," he said. "Multilateralism that works should be its aim. I have no sympathy for unilateralism for its own sake."

At the same time, Blair argued that European critics of the Bush administration must not make the mistake of under-estimating its determination to confront international terrorism.

"Neither Europe nor the US should be arrogant about the other," he said. "It is not a sensible or intelligent response for us in Europe to ridicule America's arguments and parody their political leadership." more on Blair

Yet today some leaning to the left are espousing an American pull out from the war in Iraq.

President Bush has said that a democratic Iraq will serve as a beacon for other Islamic states in the region. He told the U.N.,

"We must help the reformers of the Middle East as they work for freedom and strive to build a community of peaceful, democratic nations."

Without U.S. troops, the civil war cited as the worst-case outcome by the recently leaked National Intelligence Estimate would be a reality. It would then take a resolute president to stand aside while Iraqis battle it out. Is Bush resolute? We'll see. It will be interesting to see who President Bush appoints to replace outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Pulling our troops out from Iraq will simply embolden those who have waged their jihad on the United States. These people absolutely unequivocally hate us. They hate our way of life - our capitalistic system - everything we stand for. A pull out will not stop the war and therefore it is not an option. Reference Link