Has The Exit Window From Iraq Closed?

Iraqi FM Warns Against U.S. Withdrawal July 9, 2007 - 12:32pm By BUSHRA JUHI Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's foreign minister warned on Monday that a quick American military withdrawal from the country could lead to a full-scale civil war, the collapse of the government and spillover conflicts across the region. (WTOP)

If we step back, oh, say five odd years, we find the United States ready to invade a stable, sovereign nation called Iraq on what we now know is pretty flimsy evidence tying them to terrorism. The mid-east is no more chaotic than it has been in the last twenty odd years and while the ruler is a heartless dictator, frankly, things are no better and no worse than they have been in the region and its long line of heartless dictators.

Flash forward to now. We have a nation in shambles. A power vacuum at the highest levels being filled by factions that have been feuding with each other for, conservatively, a thousand years and a military force, occupying the country and trying to keep the factions from doing what they do best. Kill each other. This is kind of like putting the British army on the Mason-Dixon line in the 1800s. Iraq is in a full scale civil war. Would it have gotten there without the United States messing in the sand? Would it have destabilized the region to the extent that it is? I will let the experts weigh in on that but I am betting against it.

Troops are dying for reasons that can no longer be adequately explained to their families who have to deal with the loss and the citizens who have to pay for it.

The Iraqi Foreign Minister is now making a point that shows they are growing a backbone over there and that could spell disaster for the United States and any attempt at extracting the troops quickly and cleanly. The time of the easy exit may have come and gone and the time of the long support contract may just be starting. With luck, something can worked out to get the troop home before the United States becomes the fifth wheel in a long and bloody struggle.