Critics Should Ponder
'Positive Results' of Iraq War
"The
hopes we held in 2003 when the U.S.-led coalition first toppled Saddam Hussein have
finally been fulfilled. … whatever the motive was for the war, that discussion
is now clearly overshadowed by the fact that the decision to remove Saddam
Hussein and his regime was the right one."
On August 2, 2010, Barack
Obama lived up to the pledge he made during the 2008 election campaign that
made him president: He concluded the Iraq War.
Of the 144,000 soldiers that
were in Iraq, only 65,000 are left, and by August 31, only 50,000 will remain
on the ground. But not as combat troops.
Until late next year, it will
be their task to transfer the burden of maintaining security to Iraq itself. When
they leave, the goal will have been achieved - if Iraqis can take over and
maintain their own security.
The U.S., its allies and the
Iraqi security forces have paid a very high price in lives and treasure to
abolish the tyranny that once prevailed in Iraq. Fourteen thousand people were
killed in battle, among them seven Danish soldiers, and up to 100,000 civilians
died in the effort to create an Iraqi democracy.
By comparison, the Balkan
Wars took only four years - 1992 to 1996 - and cost the lives of 260,000; the war
in Somalia from 1988 to 2004 claimed 550,000 lives. The higher priority put on
protecting Iraqi civilians showed some results.
The motives of President
George W. Bush in launching the war will be debated by historians for a long
time to come. But the many Danish critics who in 2007 demanded an end to the Iraq
War, such as foreign policy spokesman for the Social Democrats Mogens Lykketoft, who
that same year declared, "for both Bush and his Danish followers, the
Iraq War is a monumental derailment of the war against terrorism," should
take the time to consider the positive results of the war.
So what kind of Iraq is it that
we see at war's end?
It is a nation under
development; a nation that stubbornly working its way toward political
stability and economic prosperity. True, five months after Iraq's democratic
elections, conflict continues between Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds on the
formation of a new government.
But this is evidence of a
democratic discussion and development after the ouster of Saddam Hussein's
totalitarian regime. Along with the political strife, there is an intense
struggle among Iraqi politicians to ensure that daily necessities and security get
to Iraq's citizens, which is their first and central concern.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
There is still too much
violence in Iraq. But things are now going in the right direction; they are so
good, in fact, that Obama has been able to take this historic decision. The
hopes we held in 2003 when the U.S.-led coalition first toppled Saddam Hussein have
finally been fulfilled.
So whatever the motive was
for the war, that discussion is now clearly overshadowed by the fact that the decision
to remove Saddam Hussein and his regime was the right one.
Democracy is getting a
foothold in Iraq. It has taken longer than hoped for and expected. But for the
rest of the Middle East, this is a strong statement that the war was not in
vain.
The last American soldier that
departs Iraq next year will leave behind a nation that - after liberation from
its tyrannical past - is surely strong and stable enough to secure its own
democratic future.
The U.S. and its coalition have
done their part. Now the Iraqis themselves must show that they can ensure
stability and defend their nation against the terrorists.
The next difficult task
awaiting the American president is to bring the war in Afghanistan to an end, and
help Afghans secure a future at least as good as that of the Iraqis.
