Somalia and Iraq.. Why Cut N Run will not Work

June 15, 2006 in Al Qaeda, Global War On Terror, Haditha, House of Representatives, Iraq, John Kerry, Media, Murtha, Senate, Somalia, Terrorism, US Military

   

In December 1992 President Bush deployed 25,000 troops to Somalia to rapidly secure trade routes and distribute food to the people of Somalia as well as protect relief organizations. Once President Clinton was inaugurated he stated his desire to scale down the US Forces there and change the Mission from one of making trade routes secure to one of "Nation Building". 

The Nation Building Mission culminated in a 17 hour battle in Mogadishu in which 84 US Rangers were wounded, 18 Killed, and the bodies of US troops were dragged through the streets. During this battle, requests for reinforcements were denied by the Clinton Administration, and on the advice of John Murtha all US Troops were withdrawn by the end of the week.  Following the US and UN abandonment, Somalia descended into anarchy and chaos, with individual warlords establishing their own strongholds. Ongoing civil disturbances and clan rivalries have interfered with any broad-based economic development or international aid arrangements. This provided the perfect environment for Islamic Fundamentalists to establish an Islamic state based on Shari’a Law and safe haven for terrorists similar to what the Taliban had established in Afghanistan.

Prominent Democrats such as John Kerry, John Murtha, Nancy Pelosi and many others are advocating a troop withdrawal, redeployment or other change of direction in our “Iraq Policy”. Call it what you want. It essentially means the same thing. Cut-N-Run. Establishing an artificial deadline, be it the end of this year, next year, or five years from now, in which all US troops will be home regardless of what the situation on the ground is, only gives our enemies a timeline from which to plan their operations from. A Redeployment, to more secure areas only give terrorists a free reign in those less secure areas. And what does Nancy Pelosi mean by a “change of direction” on our Iraq policy? Does she want to abandon 3 years of hard work and amazing success in transforming a totalitarian regime into a representative government in its infancy, complete with a Constitution, and freely elected parliament? Would she prefer a reversion to a totalitarian dictatorship? Or the anarchy and tribal warlords similar to what Somalia disintegrated into? 

Many will argue that we shouldn’t be there to begin with, I disagree completely, but that is another discussion. Bottom line is we are there. There is no taking it back. We don’t get a do-over. Done is done. All arguments about the legitimacy of the war are moot. That discussion was held back in the long summer, fall and winter of 2002. The decision was made by Congress and our President to go, and once the decision was made and the boys stepped over the line of departure all arguments both for and against removing Saddam from power became irrelevant. From the moment that decision was made the only choices on the table were victory or defeat. You either hoped we won, or hoped we lost. 

Pulling out now would have ramifications far beyond Iraq. If America leaves Iraq before our mission there is complete whether you agree with that mission or not, we will have handed the Islamists a far more significant victory than even the bloody attack of September 11^th. It would validate their most powerful recruiting tool; that weak Americans will inevitably be defeated by Jihad, and the future belongs to a despotism based on Islamic Tyranny and radicalized Islam. The effects on our Allies would be even worse especially those who are themselves under threat from Islamic Fundamentalists. How many would conclude that appeasing the terrorists would be their best hope of survival? We can still lose this war on Terror. We won’t loose it on the Battlefield however.  Should we lose it will be on the editorial pages of our newspapers, and in the speeches given by our elected representatives who place the short term political gains of their party ahead our national security on their priority list.