Thoughts on Iraq

Yesterday I was listening to NPR and someone was making the case that the Democrats were advocating a strategy in Iraq that amounts to losing the war.

"Losing the war?" I wondered. How could we possibly lose the war, even if we leave?

While we are now five years past the debate about whether or not to attack Iraq, I remember clearly what the original justification was (and yes, over time, George W. did come up with a variety of other reasons).

We went into Iraq because our government claimed that they had WMD. We went to Iraq to get rid of Saddam Hussein.

Well, they didn't have any WMD and Saddam is dead. From that perspective, I have to agree with Bush on that "Mission Accomplished" thing.

In the process of doing so, however, we badly destabilized the country, and for several years I was of the opinion that while I thought the war was a hugely bad idea, we had a moral responsibility to clean up our mess.

Yet at some point it became the Iraqis responsibility to fix their country. We've done our duty: we've maintained a presence there for a sufficiently long time to give them the opportunity to form a government and begin to resolve their internal differences.

It isn't our responsibility to babysit them indefinitely.

And as for the issue of terrorism in Iraq--specifically, al Qaeda or other external forces--it wasn't a problem in Iraq before we invaded, and as long as we are there it will remain a factor. I don't know what will happen when we leave. Will terrorism further engulf the country? Or will the country stabilize itself, one way or another? It could follow a path toward real democracy, or it could become a somewhat authoritarian state. That's not for us to decide. We should influence their leaders, of course, but in the end, the destiny of Iraq belongs to the Iraqis.

We have no more chance of eliminating terrorism from Iraq than we do of eliminating it in Afghanistan. Or Pakistan. Or England or Spain.

Terrorism is a technique, a behavior, a strategy. It's not a "thing" that can be destroyed. We can't rid the world of terrorism anymore than we can rid it of burglary. That doesn't mean we shouldn't fight it, but it does mean that we have to be honest about what the objective is.

AND AS FOR JOHN MCCAIN'S COMMENT about staying in Iraq for 100 years or longer, I watched him clarify what he meant on Larry King Live last night. He said we've had troops in Japan and Germany since 1945, in South Korea since the 50s, and so on. For McCain, there's no difference in keeping U.S. military forces in Iraq.

The difference, of course, is that Japan and Germany and South Korea weren't on the verge of civil wars. Our presence there was to defend against external dangers. If that is to be our role in Iraq, then we need to stop policing factions within the country.