Letter to the Editor: Withdrawal not remedy for foreign policy

As a reservist who served in Iraq in 2007, I witnessed many conflicting images of triumph and defeat.

Monday, March 24th, 2008

Incurring a precipitous or phased withdrawal is not a way to correct a foreign policy decision made five years ago. Leaving would not erase our presence in Iraq. We are connected with it now whether we like it or not. There are no take-backs in foreign policy.

No war is scripted. It is true; there existed a large amount of hubris with the initial expectations of post-invasion Iraq with regard to how easy it would be to redesign Iraq’s civil polity. Policy makers did not appreciate the complexity of the task and what would be unleashed with the removal of Saddam Hussein. However, now, the ship has been righted with the current strategy and we are progressing in the right direction with the right policies. Abandoning the advances achieved would dishonor the Iraqis and Americans who have pledged and given their lives to achieve a secure and stable future for Iraq.

The proponents of withdrawal seem to forget that an evacuation from Iraq would, most likely, doom it to a lack of civil order and would only increase the negative opinion of U.S. foreign policy domestically and abroad. Anti-war activists exalt the anti-U.S. foreign opinion as an exemplar of the necessity for a withdrawal from Iraq. They fail to understand that a withdrawal would only engender even greater anti-U.S. opinion as a country which does not stand by the consequences of its actions and takes responsibility for them. It is necessary and right to stick to General Petreaus’ current strategy and the advances made in the past year and to continue in its direction to ensure civil order for their future.

As a reservist who served in Iraq in 2007, I witnessed many conflicting images of triumph and defeat. Most importantly, I witnessed many Iraqis pledging and risking everything they had, including their lives, working with Americans to improve their society and build a better future. It did not always go well and there were many hurdles, but progress was made, significant progress. Therein lays the ingredients for success; for, in liberal societies, the structure of society is reinforced through the daily actions of countless numbers of citizens. This is where success lays in Iraq and withdrawal would abandon the gains accomplished and dishonor those Americans and Iraqis.

— Karl Rubis, Doctoral student in history

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