Yes, Virginia, There IS an Exit Strategy

Buzzwords are a peculiar thing in politics. These days, the term so often used by politicians who are against the Iraq War and some of the more "Moderate" Republicans and Conservatives who seem to have found that the Iraq War was not the slam-dunk for their political careers that they hoped it would be. So, like fair-weather friends, they are in the process of distancing themselves from the war effort and slowly joining in the chorus of the war effort's determined enemies on the Left. Recently, it came to my attention that my Representative Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) has become one of these groups of Republicans. SInce I am among his constituents, I thought it was my responsibility, as with all constituents in my district that are likeminded on the War in Iraq and how to fight it to prove how wrong he is to demand an "exit strategy" of the sort that the Left have been demanding. So, I sent him a letter, pointing out that if we have a withdrawal based on time instead of results like the Democrats and others have so gotten wrapped up in demanding that our troops have an exit strategy to get out of Iraq. I recently got his letter in response, and I've been led to believe that neither he nor those hired to go through his correspondence from his constituents truly read what is written to them or they simply are unable to comprehend it. Of course, he most likely has his office send a prewritten statement on the subject at hand, but what his statement shows is an obvious ignornance to the facts. Here is part of what has been sent back to me from Rep. Coble's office:

"As you will recall, the coalition forces turned over control of the governing functions to a provisional Iraqi government on June 28, 2004, and from every indication, it appears the January election process was a resounding success. In early May, Iraq's first-ever elected Prime Minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari formally swore in 29 of his cabinet ministers. The country's 275-member elected parliament, represented by a large Shia majority, has already made overtures towards enfranchising more of the Kurd and Sunni minorities. Finally, the parliamentary committee charged with drafting Iraq's constitution should have its initial proposal completed by the end of August. Sadly, I have no doubt certain sectors of the media have played a part in downplaying some of these measurable accomplishments."

"That being said, over the course of recent months, it is no secret that I have become increasingly disheartened by the apparent lack of a high-quality exit strategy incumbent upon our initial invasion. I am discontent with the present reality of learning of new fatalities on seemingly a daily basis. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that the recent Iraqi election process will yield the promising future we are all hoping for in that country. As I have publicly stated, while I applaud the transition of governing authority to the Iraqi people, I also believe it is only right that this administration keep a full U.S. withdrawal on the table. Again, I am not saying it is the only option, merely that we owe it to our brave men and women, steadfastly serving in harm's way, to give it the full consideration it deserves. I will continue to follow this situation closely and I welcome your input as this process moves forward."

As you can see, Rep. Coble is using a series of "What if it all goes completely wrong?" statements to make his point. The unfortunate thing is, this isn't a war we can afford to lose, and we have a lot more to lose in this war than the public, and it seems Rep. Coble seem to think. People are sadly under the impression that this war is one where either the place is fine enough left alone, or irreparably sunk into Islamofascism no matter how much or how little we do there and that in either case, we won't lose as much getting out of there as staying there. This is an unfortunate side-effect from the specter of Vietnam that seems to infect so many of our people, even today.

This specter has infected some of the most hawkish foreign-policy advocates, many of which most likely have one of those "Support Our Troops" ribbon stickers that seem to be on almost every vehicle in Middle America. Most of this stems from, in my opinion, this "Specter of Vietnam" feeding upon the part in all of us that says "what if I'm wrong?". Normally, this is a halpful mechanism to keep us humble, but if this is exploited negatively, it can lead to irrational decisions just as bad as if this mechanism did not exist and the person was believing everything he does and believes is 100% right, even when the facts conflict with such an attitude. Thus, I believe Rep. Coble may in fact be a victim of this, along with others, fearing that it may still all go wrong and fall apart, despite the obvious progress made in this conflict.

Not to say that things can't change for the worse, but even then, in this conflict specifically, we can't afford to lose. It is obvious that the people we are fighting now, many of which are called "insurgents" in the news media are the same people who bombed London a few days ago, the same people who attacked the World Trade Center, and the same people that hate our country and want to destroy it. Their attacks in Iraq against the US and coalition forces are acts of desperation, not bravery. They are attacking the coalition forces because of their fear over the Western Democratic influence on their countries, and thus, are on the Defensive. While this may seem simplistic, but I personally would rather them be on the Defensive in Iraq, then on the Offensive in the US. This is not a popular, native front like the Viet-Cong, and if it was, we would have had a much higher body count than we do and would have left the country much, much sooner. This is an invasion of terrorists from Iran and other Islamic radical states assisting former Ba'ath party loyalists who are not numerous and desiring to scare the Iraqis from supporting the rebuilding of their country under a truly representative state. However, their attacks may very well be backfiring against them. The Iraqis are growing in anger against these attacks which leave many more of their people dead than they do ours. The sad thing is, the News Media refrains reporting much of the deaths of civilian Iraqis that are killed in these attacks, instead mentioning merely the coalition, particularly American, deaths. Leaving this country because of the body count of brave men and women who chose to fight in our military, and perhaps implied, die if necessary to make Iraq and the world a better place is a move that will have made our troops die in vain and basically change nothing for the better and further convince the Arabs that we are petty, self-interested people who compose nothing more than a "paper tiger" that can be beaten if pushed enough.

There is a working exit strategy that the Bush administration has put out, but it isn't a full withdrawal like the Democrats have so desperately wanted. This is a gradual withdrawal based on the sufficient training of Iraqi soldiers and policemen, as well as other forces, not on time or how bad it gets. Bush clearly set out in his speech at Fort Bragg to talk to those with the outlook of Rep. Coble who could still have their minds changed. To Pro-Iraq Republicans, this was just more preaching to the chior, but to the undecided this was a way to win their hearts and minds. The President did an excellent job, but he should have mentioned one more fact, and perhaps I should have mentioned this to Mr. Coble. As much as it seems that America has been given a "black eye" according to the conventional wisdom of foreign policy types and Academia (which, in this case "wisdom" should be changed to "belief") abandoning Iraq would be even worse than whatever evil happened to that country whether when we came in or before it. I would rather have my country have a "black eye" in the eyes of the world if we stayed there and did what was right, no matter the consequences, than have my country be seen as a selfish one with a black heart that deserves more martyrs to attack it and eventually extinguish it from this earth.