Armed Liberal of (AKA Marc Danziger) of Winds of Change, who supports the war in Iraq, has embarked on an ambitious project to debate the arguments on the war in Iraq, pro and con, in an organized and rational fashion. His first post on the subject, in which he presents a number of arguments against the war in Iraq with several more proposed in the comments is here. He recaps the arguments here.
AL has now drafted commenter Chris, who opposes the war in Iraq to frame the arguments in favor of the war in Iraq and, IMO, Chris does an excellent job. This post is highly recommended.
The precise contours of Chris’s opposition to the war in Iraq are not entirely clear to me. Judging from this comment and this comment, it appears that he opposed the war in anticipation and believes that the war is now unwinnable. Presumably, he believes we should withdraw our forces from Iraq immediately (although I’m not sure that’s his position and I wouldn’t want to put words in his mouth). As we’ve seen from recent comments by chairman of the Democratic National Committee Howard Dean (and polls taken of delegates to the Democratic Convention of 2004) that Republicans are using to beat Dean (and the Democrats) about the head and shoulders, Chris’s position is pretty consistent with that of the Democratic Party leadership.
This view differs somewhat from my own. I felt that the invasion of Iraq was imprudent particularly in the light of the tepid political support that President Bush had at home. But we’re there now and the potential costs of failure there far exceed the costs of remaining there on an ongoing basis. That we would remain in Iraq for the foreseeable future was evident to me from the very first and I see from a recent interview with the top-ranking Iraqi general that this is the prevailing wisdom among at least some Iraqis as well:
While the general said he believes the coalition will be able to cut the number of troops in Iraq in the coming year, Babakir said he does not favor a quick withdrawal of coalition troops. Any coalition troop withdrawal should be gradual, he said, because coalition forces are integral to the success of democracy in Iraq.
If coalition forces leave Iraq, he said, terrorist groups would be free to plan and train for more attacks like Sept. 11, and other attacks in Madrid, Spain; London; and Bali, Indonesia.
Iraq is the main theater in the global war on terrorism, he said. “If tomorrow (the United States) decides to leave, then you will see al Qaeda in your streets,†he said. “They will claim that they have defeated you and that they are the ones who won.
For one explanation of why this is true, you might want to read this post from Major K.
How we’re going to sustain a longterm presence in Iraq given the political realities at home eludes me.
At any rate read the whole post and join in the discussion. Joe Katzman still runs one of the finest and most civil discussion forums in the blogosphere.
