Issues > Iraq

Some of us supported, and still support, America's reasons for going into Iraq. Some of us never did. And some of us have changed positions in retrospect, as more information was uncovered. And while there is great disagreement as to whether we should have gone into Iraq in 2003, there should be greater common ground as to our strategy in 2008.

It has been said by some that we should stay in Iraq until the job is done, and the war is won. It is unfortunate, however, that it is rarely if ever said what constitutes finishing the job or what defines winning in this scenario. We are not fighting a uniformed enemy. Nor are we fighting a foe whose leadership might one day surrender to our forces. Rather, we are fighting insurgents, and we are fighting them largely on turf that belongs to neither us nor them. And we are spending money we don't have to do this, once again expecting the next generation to foot the bill for today's fiscal excess.

If our war was against the government of Saddam Hussein, any traditional measures of wartime victory have been long since met. The Iraqi military was soundly defeated, Saddam was deposed and his government dismantled, a new democratic Iraqi government was created, and the Iraqi people put their first Constitution on paper. The last of those events took place in 2005; what, then, are we fighting to accomplish now? If we have not satisfied our objectives already, what will have to happen for our job to be completed and our fighting men and women to return home?

Success cannot be measured by the number of uniformed or civilian losses; it is a sad fact that that number will never reach zero. I believe we do owe a debt to the Iraqi people to rebuild and restore the infrastructure damaged during the course of the conflict. But even that measure demands defined benchmarks by which we can tell what we have left to accomplish.

Perhaps most importantly, I believe we should listen to the Iraqi people themselves. If they wish our forces to stay, whether to continue our aid in rebuilding Iraq or out of fear of outside threats, I believe we owe it to them to hear out their requests. On the other hand, if they wish us to leave, we should make no delay in bringing our troops home as soon as possible.