When walking around campus, I feel that there is a sentiment to end the war in Iraq. This sentiment is only strengthened by student groups like Students for Ending the War in Iraq (SEWI) who push for an immediate, unconditional withdrawal of American troops from Iraq and Afghanistan in irresponsible disregard to geopolitical reality. First of all, withdrawing American troops would have dire repercussions on both the international and national stage. The Islamic threat is very real. There exists a segment of the global Muslim community that hates the idea of America; they hate the fact that we are free, that we can freely dissent, and that we enjoy vast freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. Regardless of the obscure reasons Bush advocated to go to war, our nation is invested militarily, politically, financially and morally in the reconstruction and further prosperity of a sovereign Iraq. A sudden retreat would embolden our enemies, weaken our international reputation and thrust the entire region into disarray.
Some people on this campus believe that the Middle East today is in shambles purely because of this war that we “started.” However, the reality is that the Middle East has had a tumultuous and dynamic history from its inception with the rule of the Caliphs through European colonization. The clash of civilizations is nothing new; for centuries, and long before 2003, Christians and Muslims have battled in the Crusades, the Spanish Reconquista, and the European/Ottoman struggle over the Mediterranean. The turning point in this rivalry has most certainly been the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, which vindicated the extremists while ousting the moderates. This turning point, coupled with President Carter’s inability to combat the rise of these Islamists, directly led to the current conflict. Iran immediately began to fund terrorist organizations, the most prominent one being Hezbollah, which two summers ago cowardly kidnapped Israeli soldiers, thus starting a devastating war for both countries. What many people do not realize is that this same Hezbollah had been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans and Israelis decades before 9/11. To name a few prominent examples, they bombed the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983, killing 241 U.S. Marines as they slept; between 1982 and 1986, suicide attacks by their operatives claimed the lives of hundreds of people, and they bombed the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1992. In addition, have we forgotten about the failed 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center? The mastermind behind the foiled plot was a man named Ramzi Yousef, who was finally arrested in Pakistan in 1995 in an al-Qaeda safe house (yes, the same al-Qaeda). As you can see, Islamic extremists attacking the U.S. did not begin in response to the current war in Iraq, but rather has a long record.
Furthermore, in the mid 1980s, America supported the tribes of Afghanistan in defeating the Soviet Union, an important step in its ultimate destruction. The Afghans fought bravely against the Soviet invaders, and America was loved for helping expel them from their country. However, right after Soviet defeat and withdrawal, the U.S. left Afghanistan because we supposedly had more important things to worry about. We abandoned the Afghan people and look what happened: the Taliban came in and turned the country into a breeding ground of terrorism and extremism, and it was the place where Osama Bin Laden was given a safe haven before 9/11. Had we finished the job in Afghanistan (built infrastructure, foment an intellectual foundation, etc.) history may well have been different.
The lesson we must take from all this is that we cannot abandon our commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have already seen what would happen if we just packed up and left. The Islamic extremists would most certainly gain control of the country and Iraq would be overrun as a training camp for Islamic terrorism.
Thus, we must not forget history when thinking about the war in Iraq. Even though the media won’t report it, conditions are improving, and right now our troops need our support more than ever. It is with this that I implore each and every one of you to reconsider your stance on the war because frankly, the future of our world depends on it.
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