Bring ‘em Home

It’s not too late. On the fourth anniversary of the Iraq War, let partisanship take a backseat
to this proposal: Bring our troops home.

Since President Bush declared an end to major combat missions in May 2003, the war continues to rage on battlefields in Baghdad, Najaf, Fallujah and Tikrit. To date, the U.S. government has spent more than $400 billion of our tax dollars to finance a war that has left more than 40,000 Iraqis and more than 3,200 American soldiers dead.

We can think of many better ways to spend that gargantuan sum. We’ll start with these few: how about bettering health care and education, providing more funds for an ailing Social Security system, giving more federal aid to states, helping the homeless, or chipping away at the national debt?

Here in Philadelphia, we can use some federal aid to combat homelessness (See story on Page 7) and help better fund our schools.

Last weekend in Washington, thousands
took the streets in protest of the administration’s Iraq policy, calling for a troop pullout. Protesters marched to the Pentagon demanding an end to the war. According to the “Washington Post,” police estimated that between 10,000 to 20,000 protesters marched. Other smaller protests were held across the nation in San Francisco, San Diego, and Hartford, Conn. Politicians should be taking notes from the constituents.

Thankfully, some in the House of Representatives are.

Leaders in the House have written up a plan that seeks to begin troop pullout from Iraq as early as July. The plan would allow for some of our troops to remain in Iraq, but only for purposes related to countering terrorism and training Iraqi soldiers. This pullout plan is a feasible one because the alternative is likely more dead troops and even more shattered lives for innocent Iraqis.

How long will the U.S. be able to battle an unrelenting insurgency made up of suicide bombers ready to give their lives for their cause? The Iraq War is no longer a military battle. (The U.S. has done more than enough to prove its military superiority.) This war has always been ideological,
making declaring a victor a near impossibility.

Where’s the victory in tearing both American and Iraqi families apart?The longer the U.S. remains in Iraq, the closer we’ll get to figuring out that Edwin Starr was correct when he sang, “War: What is it good for?” Absolutely nothing.