A Running Commentary

With a tough election on the horizon, Rep. James Walsh and others in his position are joining the ranks of the shortsighted bring-the-troops-home-no-matter-what camp. But as the vote-mongering horde prepare for 2008, let’s not lose sight of the crucial long-term ramifications of our position in Iraq. Whether we agree in hindsight about going into Iraq, we’re there, and decisions must be made with an eye to preserving our positive gains and diplomatic prestige.

Despite the President’s ill-advised emphasis on WMDs as rationale, our aggression in Iraq was diplomatically predicated on over a decade of attempts to bring Iraq to heel. During that time, as the world watched, Saddam Hussein flaunted his contempt for those efforts. Our military actions in 2003 put sharp teeth in what was otherwise an increasingly limp policy.
Images less than 10 months later of a disheveled Hussein, dragged from a hole in the ground by US forces, reverberate a powerful warning to anyone who would disregard future diplomacy. Our representatives must not squander this message by calling for a premature withdrawal that leaves Iraq in chaos and indicates a lack of American resolve to future antagonists.