Stay and win in Iraq or declare victory and leave?

By Frank Pignanelli & LaVarr Webb
Published: Monday, Aug. 28, 2006 12:07 p.m. MDT
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Webb: I'm pleased that Salt Lake City and the state of Utah this week will host President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the American Legion convention.

These distinguished and accomplished leaders are fighting to protect America's security and economic interests throughout the world. The tragedy is that they must wage this battle amid vicious, unrelenting criticism and negativism, both abroad and at home. And much of it is politically motivated.

That's why it's important for them to know that the vast majority of Utahns fully support their positions and priorities, particularly their commitment to finishing the job in Iraq, rather than pulling out precipitously as their nasty but naive critics demand.

Everyone wants the troops home from Iraq, none more so than Bush, Rice and Rumsfeld. But they are wise enough to know that withdrawing the troops before the democratically elected Iraqi government is fully prepared to handle the security of its country would be disastrous.

The troops will come home, but it will be in an orderly manner dictated by conditions in the field and by the recommendations of commanders on the ground, rather than election-year politicking back home.

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No thinking American doubts that mistakes have been made in Iraq. But we need to keep it in perspective. We went to war based upon the best information at hand at the time, including a near-universal belief that the Iraqi dictatorship had weapons of mass destruction, had used them in the past and would use them again. This country, including the Congress, was united behind the president. Most of those Democrats in Congress who are now calling for America to abandon Iraq supported going to war.

We quickly vanquished Saddam Hussein's military force. But winning the peace has been much harder than anyone expected. No question, our leaders and war planners weren't as prepared as they should have been to rebuild the country and eliminate the suicide bombers and terrorists who are murdering women and children to foment a civil war.

Nation-building is a tough business. It took our own country many decades and a civil war costing more than 600,000 American lives to be fully united. And no war goes perfectly according to plan. In the history of American warfare, far worse blunders will be found than what has happened in Iraq.

We're there, and we need to finish the job. The consequences of simply pulling out would be catastrophic.

Pignanelli: "The best policy is to declare victory and go home!" This analysis by former Sen. George Aikenk, R-Vt., of the Vietnam quagmire is prescient today as it was 40 years ago. The only sensible plan for this country is the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

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