A Conservative Asks About Withdrawal from Iraq

Over at DailyKos.com I engaged in an exchange with a conservative supporter of the Bush Administration, after he requested, Could somebody explain to me the rational[e] behind withdrawing our troops immediately [from Iraq]?"

I first proceeded to address the first point inherent in his question:

I’ve addressed the larger point that your question raises, that is: Was it smart to go into Iraq to begin with? Clearly the answer was and is a resounding no. Any answer to the contrary simply ignores the rational voices that opposed the war at the beginning and, now, an answer to the contrary, ignores reality on the ground. Accordingly, to sum up: only those that were willing to deceive themselves bought the lies coming from the Bush Administration and, today, war supporters choose to remain oblivious to the reality on the ground.

Which then lead me to address the premise he had used to set up his question:

All that said, your premise, that if the US left Iraq that it would lead to civil war and/or to undesirables gaining control of the country, simply ignores the facts. The reality is that, as expert observers have already noted, Iraq is in a low grade civil war already, a war that’s only likely to escalate — remember, experts knew that this would be the likely result after invasion (that’s why Bush I stopped short of going into Baghdad). As for Al Queda getting a stronger foothold in the country, I’d would remind you that your statement, again, ignores immediate history and the post invasion reality that now exists on the ground: Hussein and Al Queda had absolutely no operative relation; but now, after the Bush Administration, with the consent of his supporters, invaded Iraq, Al Queda is indeed in that country now (we and the Iraqi people have all those that supported and continue to support Bush & Co. to thank for that — that, I presume, includes you).

I then concluded with:

So, what do we do now that the Bush Administration, with the aid and comfort of his war supporters, committed the biggest military blunder in American history? (Before continuing, lemme just say that it truly pisses me off that after Bush et al committed this, and other catastrophic mistakes, that we (Liberal and Democrats) some how have the responsibility and onus to offer a solution to the mess that your president created; but, nonetheless, that’s what Liberals do, we offer solutions and make progress.) So, what do we do? We do what Murtha has proposed in his redeployment plan, and I paraphrase: 1. We form a quick reaction team to be deployed "just over the horizon," in case the shit really hits the fan; 2. We give the military REAL & CONCRETE goals that lead towards a timed reduction in troops over a predetermined period of time (of course, since the military would really be in charge over such timed withdrawal, they would determine the pace and how safe it is to conduct such withdrawal; the goal, though, would be active progress towards a reduction in troop presence); 3. We make it absolutely clear that the US will not build permanent bases and that we’re not there indefinitely.

To this I would add that, after redeploying the troops completely out of Iraq, the next presidential administration (given that the current one has already given up on formulating an actual solution (Bush has said that it’ll be up to the next president to decide what to do about Iraq)) will need to come up with an intelligent plan to "win the hearts and minds" of that region and, too, figure out a way to combat the poisonous grip that the religious conservative mind set has on that part of the world (of course, if we’re not careful here at home, we too may find ourselves infected and tainted by the same sort of conservative religiosity — why just look at our own brand of religious clerics and their fanatical supporters).