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It is not too often I am pleased by the
foreign policy announcements from this administration, but last week’s
announcement that the war in Iraq was in its final stage and all the troops
may be home for Christmas did sound promising. I have long said that we
should simply declare victory and come home. It should not have taken us
nearly a decade to do so, and it was supposed to be a priority for the new
administration. Instead, it will be one of the last things done before the
critical re-election campaign gets into full swing. Better late than never,
but, examining the fine print, is there really much here to get excited
about? Are all of our men and women really coming home, and is Iraq now to
regain its sovereignty? And in this time of economic crisis, are we going to
stop hemorrhaging money in Iraq? Sadly, it doesn’t look that way.
First and foremost, any form of
withdrawal that is happening is not simply because the administration
realized it was the right thing to do. This is not the fulfillment of a
campaign promise, or because suddenly the training of their police and
military is complete and Iraq is now safe and secure, but because of
disagreements with the new government over a Status of Forces Agreement
(SOFA). The current agreement was set up by the previous administration to
expire at the end of 2011. Apparently the Iraqis refused to allow continued
immunity from prosecution for our forces for any crimes our soldiers might
commit on Iraqi soil. Can you imagine having foreign soldiers here, with
immunity from our laws and Constitution, with access to your neighborhood?
Some 39,000 American troops will
supposedly be headed home by the end of the year. However, the US embassy in
Iraq, which is the largest and most expensive in the world, is not being
abandoned. Upwards of 17,000 military personnel and private security
contractors will remain in Iraq to guard diplomatic personnel, continue
training Iraqi forces, maintain “situational
awareness” and other functions. This is still a significant American
footprint in the country. And considering that a private security contractor
costs the US taxpayer about three times as much as a soldier, we’re not
going to see any real cost savings. Sadly, these contractors are covered
under diplomatic immunity, meaning the Iraqi people will not get the
accountability that they were hoping for.
While I
applaud the spirit of this announcement – since all our troops should
come home from overseas – I have strong reservations about any actual
improvements in the situation in Iraq, since plans are already being made to
increase the number of troops in surrounding regions. What we really need is
a new foreign policy and there is no indication that that is what we have
gotten. On the contrary, the administration fully intends to keep troops in
Iraq, indefinitely, under a new agreement, while the Iraqis are doing their
best to assert their sovereignty and kick us out. Neither are
we going to be saving any significant amount of money. My greatest fear,
however, is that this troop withdrawal from Iraq will simply pave the way for
more endless, wasteful, needless wars.
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