Among many other reasons, President Bush has repeated many times that leaving Iraq would jeopardize American credibility in the world and embolden the enemy. President Bush thinks that leaving Iraq will be a sign of weakness for the United States and will give terrorists a reason to faith that Americans cannot fight a tough war.
How much do you consider there is truth in this?
Do you believe that withdrawing from Iraq will represent a defeat for United States?
Re: Would leaving Iraq damage U.S. standing in the world?
Yes. If US withdraws, it should be on its terms and conditions, not on terrorists terms and conditions.
Re: Would leaving Iraq damage U.S. standing in the world?
US should not withdraw until it has stabilized the damn place. Either this thing should not have been rushed into, and now that it is what it is, there is no sense in leaving a mess there. It will destabilize the region, quite the opposite of serving as a beacon of democracy, and this would be a natural congregation point for al qaeda types..here they wont even stick out since they are arabs.
Re: Would leaving Iraq damage U.S. standing in the world?
Amreeka is already on the run, objectives not met in 3 years and not in 30 its just a matter of time now. Ever heard of monkey trap?
P.S: Stay tuned for the good old spin.
Re: Would leaving Iraq damage U.S. standing in the world?
What are US terms and conditions on withdrawing from Iraq?
Re: Would leaving Iraq damage U.S. standing in the world?
other thing US can do is have a full fledge civil war where its clear that US can not police the country any more and move out to the borders and then limited strikes to tip the balance of power. wait few years and then move back in on friendly terms.
Re: Would leaving Iraq damage U.S. standing in the world?
I think US' "occupation reputation" is already a laughing stock around the world, even if their "air strike reputation" is still relatively untarnished (a few blemishes like erroneously bombing the Chinese embassy in Serbia, notwithstanding).
I don't share the enthusiasm about making Iraq (or any other place) a beacon of democracy. Especially when this democracy is being beacon*ized* on the backs of guns and tanks - 'oxymoron' doesn't even begin to convey the silliness here. However, the prospect of a huge guerrilla and civil war ravaging Iraq, whereby Iran and Saudi Arabia fighting their proxy-wars through their Iraqi front organizations, is quite unappetizing as well. Ultimately, Iraq as a country will be gone, and Iraqis as a society and a civilization will be wiped out. And this will just be the beginning with a wider shia vs sunni war inflaming the middle east. And as we all know, our Pakistani brathraan have this irresistible *saraay zamanay ka gham hamaray jigar mein hai *mentality and we will have this whole "lets bomb shia mosque" and "lets retaliate" naraay baazi going on in the streets of Lahore and Karachi.
All in all, a fairly bleak prospect of peace in the region. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense to just break the artificially created country of Iraq in a confederation of three states and have some kind of equitable revenue sharing for their darned (fasaad ki jarH) oil, between the three states. No guesses for how the states should be divided up.
Re: Would leaving Iraq damage U.S. standing in the world?
The situation on the ground should improve drastically.
An elected democracy in place which is responsible for its people and for the international community.
Suitable checks and balances in place to counter for any further insurgency that might come up in Iraq.
Finally backing from the neighbouring Arab/non-arab states that they will do nothing to destabilise Iraq.