Did the U.S. Withdraw from Iraq Too Soon? >
We Should Have Left Iraq After Saddam Hussein Died
Mission to promote "democracy" in Iraq was an unobtainable objective
January 23, 2012
About Daniel J. Gallington:
Daniel Gallington is the senior policy and program adviser at the George C. Marshall Institute in Arlington, Va. He served in senior national security policy positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Department of Justice, and as general counsel for the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
If anything, we stayed way too long...
To begin with, the Bush administration should not be faulted for the initial decision to invade Iraq. We should remember that most of the world's intelligence services had determined that there were substantial weapons of mass destruction programs underway there. And, the removal from power of Saddam, his sons, and their dangerous regime was a necessary step to make objective determinations about the WMDs. However, the subsequent change of mission--to promote "democracy" in Iraq--was not at all realistic and extended the war for an unobtainable objective.
[See pictures of soldiers returning home from Iraq.]
At its best, post–Saddam Iraq is an uncomfortable association of three semi-autonomous regions, deeply divided along religious, tribal, and ethnic lines--with massive corruption at all levels of government and public administration. Accordingly, our "democracy" mission was simply not achievable without fundamental social, economic, and educational reforms that never happened. Furthermore, this degree of internal reform is probably unrealistic without wide-scale popular uprisings such as have occurred and are occurring in other countries of the region.
[Why America Is More Violent Than Other Democracies.]
In a word, I have long argued that we should have left Iraq after Saddam and his thugs were dead--and after we were satisfied beyond all doubts that there were no WMDs. While our motives to stay after that may have been pure, our logic was deeply flawed and reflective of our political naïveté. "Democracy" in Iraq--and in many nearby places--will continue to be impossible absent radical internal change.
- Join the debate on Facebook.
- Follow U.S. News Debate Club on Twitter.
- See a collection of political cartoons on the turmoil in the Middle East.
- Other Arguments
-
#15125
Yes — The U.S. must pressure Iraq to avoid a new sectarian civil war
ROBERT ZARATE, Policy Director of the Foreign Policy Initiative
-
#28664
No — The war should never have been launched--so it can't be ended soon enough
PHYLLIS BENNIS, Director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies
-
#33524
No — The United States should never have invaded in the first place
CHRISTOPHER PREBLE, Vice President for Foreign Policy Studies at the Cato Institute
-
#53531
No — The withdrawal demonstrated to the people of Iraq and their neighbors that democracy works
LAWRENCE J. KORB, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress
-
#62624
Yes — Iraq's fragile coalition government has begun to come apart at the ethnic and sectarian seams
ILAN BERMAN, Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council
-
#73029
Yes — Iraq might take 15 or 20 years to become a functioning democracy
MICHELE DUNNE, Director of the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East
-
#82828
Yes — The real winner in the Middle East will be Iran
HELLE DALE, Senior Fellow in Public Diplomacy Studies at the Heritage Foundation
-
#92529
Yes — Pulling the covers over our eyes and leaving the region is not a thought-through strategy
THOMAS HENRIKSEN, Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and at the U.S. Joint Special Operations University
-
#102532
Yes — The president, in his own words, wanted to fulfill a campaign promise
DANIELLE PLETKA, Vice President for Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute
-
#11615
No — Arms sales to Iraq also will provide a continuing source of connectivity
DANIEL GOURÉ, Vice President at the Lexington Institute
-
#123650
No — The Iraq War cost the United States 4,421 lives and $806 billion
DENNIS KUCINICH, U.S. Representative, Ohio's 10th District
Reader Comments