Will The Iraq War Be Prolonged ?

Most people in this country act as though the war in Iraq was over. It's not. Even though there's nothing more that can be militarily accomplished in that country, the United States still has over 47,000 soldiers stationed there (and 63,000 civilian contractors). In other words, we are still occupying that country.

But the Status of Forces Agreement, signed by both countries in the waning days of the Bush administration, will run out on December 31st of this year. After that date we will have no legal justification for keeping any troops in Iraq (and if the troops go the contractors will have to go too). The hope of many, including me, is that we will have our troops out by that date and we can put that disastrous adventure in nation-building behind us.

But it seems there's a bout of insanity creeping around the Obama administration. Some actually want to extend our stay in Iraq. Pentagon spokeswoman Elizabeth Robbins said, "We are willing to entertain a request for continued assistance, consistent with our commitment to a long-term partnership with Iraq." Maren Reed, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says a strong contingent at the Pentagon thinks we need to maintain a military presence in Iraq because they don't yet have a "fully stable security and rule of law environment." Frankly, if that is the requirement for withdrawing our troops then we'll be in Iraq for many more years.

Sadly, this is one of the few things that congressional Republicans are willing to support the president on -- continuing the war in Iraq. Speaker Boehner and Senators Graham and McCain have already voiced their support for keeping our troops in Iraq, so there would probably be little opposition in Congress for this insane proposition.

The only hope we have for a withdrawal is that the request for American troops to stay would have to come from the Iraqi government (and I'll bet they are getting plenty of pressure from Washington to make that request). But that government is also getting pressure from forces within Iraq to not make the request. Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr has warned the government that it will lose his support if it makes such a request. And he has threatened to rearm his own forces and take action against the government and the Americans -- both violently and nonviolently (through demonstrations).

I know that some in Washington have visions of maintaining a permanent base in Iraq, but that is a crazy idea. Even another short-term stay would do nothing but crank up the violence once again. We cannot impose our will on the Iraqis through our military (as we should have learned by now). They must solve their own problems, and once we get out of the wat they will do that.

Americans must let their government know that the military presence in Iraq must end by December 31st. ALL of our troops need to be out by that date. Staying longer will accomplish nothing except to cause needless deaths and misery.