Destiny is rightly in Iraq's hands
This time of year we celebrate what we all share in common as U.S. citizens: freedom. We are fortunate to live in a country with bountiful resources and an enduring spirit of liberty and justice for all.
Over the past few weeks, I have been thinking about the people of the Middle East, especially Iran and now Iraq. With so much of the world's attention focused elsewhere - the disputed elections in Iran, the death of pop icon Michael Jackson, the saga of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford - the fragile transition taking shape in Iraq has not made many national headlines.
Under the Status of Forces Agreement, the United States has begun to wind down its mission in Iraq. It's about time. Apparently, the Iraqi people think so, too. By proxy, we got shoes thrown at us. The president of Iraq portrayed the U.S. troop withdrawal as a "victory" for Iraqis, calling our forces there "the occupiers."
With more than 4,300 American soldiers killed and 31,000 injured in Iraq since the start of the war in 2003, it's too bad the Iraqi people chose to use the withdrawal as a cause for celebrating their national sovereignty without so much as one acknowledgment regarding the ultimate sacrifice our men and women in uniform made in securing that sovereignty.
Given the cost in U.S. blood, as well as the resources and the nearly trillion dollars the United States has spent defending Iraq, one would have hoped that the Iraqi people would have been a bit more gracious and grateful.
In a nationally televised address to his people, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stated, "Those who think that Iraqis are incapable of protecting security in their country and that the withdrawal of foreign forces will leave a security vacuum which will be difficult for Iraqi forces to fill are making a grave mistake." Let's hope so.
In his own message to the Iraqi people and to the folks here at home, President Barack Obama noted, "Iraq's future is in the hands of its own people. . . . The Iraqi people are rightly treating this as a cause for celebration. The future belongs to those who build, not to those who destroy."
As most Americans long ago concluded, the war in Iraq was a mistake. Obama, who inherited the whole mess from the previous administration, has taken the correct course of action by completing the withdrawal. Nevertheless, we should expect more violence to erupt as opportunistic forces attempt to take advantage of U.S. troop withdrawal from urban areas. The United States, however, must remain firm in allowing the Iraqi leaders to establish order with a new chain of command that will empower its troops and security apparatus.
Of course, this will not and must not preclude the Obama administration from working with the Iraqi leaders to ensure they are providing the essential services their people will demand, which includes security.
The U.S. mission is not yet completed, but the withdrawal of our troops is a major turning point for the future of Iraq.
Even those of us who disapproved of the war from the start can agree on this: Our troops are heroes, and they deserve to be thanked for doing their job so well. I cannot wait to welcome them safely back home.
© 2009, Newspaper Enterprise Association