I’ve been agnostic about the Iraq occupation for the past couple years, due to the following uncertainty: we shouldn’t have gone in, but now that we have, is an immediate pullout really in everybody’s best interest? Mother Jones magazine raised this question recently in a feature called U.S. Out Now! How? The editors sum up the dilemma in the following way:
For those of us who argued against invading, it is tempting to simply demand an end to “Bush’s War” and wash our hands of it. But as General Anthony Zinni, former head of U.S. forces in the Middle East, told us, “Your conscience is not clean just because you’re a peace demonstrator.” In other words, just because you weren’t in favor of going in doesn’t mean you’re not responsible for what happens when we pull out.
I have a feeling that we’re doing more harm than good, and that the violence would drop if we left. But honestly, I just don’t know enough about what’s going on there.
One thing I do feel strongly about however, is that we need to keep in mind not just the facts on the ground, but how mind-blowingly expensive this war is. Continue reading →
