When American forces left Vietnam, dire warnings were issued, none, and I say NONE, of which came true.
Remembering that we and the Western powers have meddled in the Middle East since the breakup of the Ottoman Empire after WW1, that we drew the boundaries and have tried, in various ways, to control that part of that world because of its oil, when we will learn that the people of the Middle East will likely resolve their issues and create their own stability much as Vietnam and Southeast Asia did.
We're no longer the dominant power in this world - war is too expensive to mount global domination, other powers fund and encourage resistance, and the greatest power in the world is powerless against a determined underground. Though we call them terrorists, are they not fighting for self-determination, the very thing that fueled the American Revolution. And, by the way, I wonder what the British called us when we fired on them from behind trees and then melted away into the countryside?
Can we leave Iraq?
Of course we can.
Will there be turmoil?
Certainly, but turmoil is already the daily agenda in this beleaguered land. As long as we're there, it'll not improve; American soldiers will continue to die, along with thousands of civilians and militia members.
Only by extricating ourselves and staying out can the peoples and nations of the Middle East have a chance to chart their own estiny and rise to the occasion.
American, McCain and Bush - hubris has characterized our ambitions, and it's time for a new policy wherein we take our place among the nation-states of the world, manage our own household and work all the more through diplomacy.
America could and should be a moral leader!
Time to put the sabers away!
