In this day in age, many people understand the reason why American troops were sent into Iraq in the first place. It all goes back to terrorism and the attempt of the United States government to thwart the growing power of terrorist factions in the area. The wars in the Middle East against terrorism went on for over a decade. The result has been a nation that is tired of war. In an effort to appease the growing public desire to put an end to America’s involvement in war, the decision to remove troops from Iraq was made. This decisions was made in error and it may have caused significant damage to the overall mission and progress that United States Armed Forces presence had created.
The primary reason why troops should have remained in Iraq in some capacity is because it affords the nation of Iraq with the support that it needed while establishing their government. Pulling out early, leaves the nation vulnerable to the regrowth of terrorist groups. “The longer we stay, the more time Iraqi politicians have to work out government structure differences, and the more time Iraqi troops and police have to train” (Messerli). Without this support, terrorist organizations have the time and opportunity to regroup and come back out fighting harder than before (Hayden). Eventually this leads to American troops having to get involved again to re-stabilize the nation so that terrorism does not have the chance to grow (Pletka).
In conclusion, the long term effects of troop withdrawal are what should have been considered and not just the immediate sentiment and position of the American people. This would have gone a long way to avoid history repeating itself via troops needing to be sent back into Iraq. Maintaining a military presence did not have to mean that thousands of troops remained on ground. All that was needed was enough personnel to show that America was still present and involved in ensuring that terrorism did not have a chance to regrow in that part of the world. If the Iraqi government was not ready to take control at the time of U.S. troop withdrawal there was no way for them to ever hope to maintain control and order of the nation even after the government was established (Gordon). This puts the world at risk for further terrorist actions.
- Gordon, Michael. “Strife foreseen in Iraq exit, but experts split on degree.” The New York Times, 27 May. 2007. Web 1 Apr. 2014.
- Hayden, Michael. “U.S. pulled Iraq troops too soon.” Cnn.com., 22 Feb. 2012. Web 1 Apr. 2014.
- Messerli, Joe. “Should the U.S. withdraw its troops from Iraq?” Balancedpolitics.org., 05 May 2011. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
- Pletka, Danielle. “Opposing view: We got of Iraq too soon.” USA Today, 26 Dec. 2011. Web 1 Apr. 2014.
