Getting Out

Should we leave Iraq right now? Retired Lt. General William Odom says yes. His Foreign Policy article, "Cut and Run? You Bet," is worth reading. He rebuts the most popular arguments for staying the course. For example:

Withdrawal will encourage the terrorists. True, but that is the price we are doomed to pay. Our continued occupation of Iraq also encourages the killers—precisely because our invasion made Iraq safe for them. Our occupation also left the surviving Baathists with one choice: Surrender, or ally with al Qaeda. They chose the latter. Staying the course will not change this fact. Pulling out will most likely result in Sunni groups’ turning against al Qaeda and its sympathizers, driving them out of Iraq entirely.