Time to leave?

Even among folks who opposed the Iraq war, the general consensus (apart from the far Left) has been that now that we’re there, we have to stay.

Two op-eds worth noting say it ain’t necessarily so.

First, George McGovern and Jim McGovern (no relation, apparently) say it’s time to start bringing the troops home:

Our continuing presence in Iraq feeds the insurgency and gives the insurgents a certain legitimacy in the eyes of much of the world. We know from our own history that armies of occupation are seldom welcome.

There have been elections in Iraq, and yet it remains unclear whether the different political, ethnic, and religious factions want to work together. ]

One thing, however, is clear: Washington cannot determine Iraq’s destiny. It doesn’t matter how many times Condoleezza Rice or Donald Rumsfeld visit. It doesn’t matter how many soldiers we deploy. The myriad factions in Iraq themselves must display the political will to demand a system of government that respects the diversity that exists in their country.

There are no easy answers in Iraq. But we are convinced that the United States should now set a dramatically different course — one that anticipates US military withdrawal sooner rather than later. We should begin the discussions now as to how we can bring our troops home.

Meanwhile, Steve Chapman says that only withdrawal will stop the suicide bombings:

In Iraq, everything that should be rising is falling, and everything that should be falling is rising. Fatalities from car bombings and suicide bombings have soared fivefold since November. Attacks on U.S. forces have been running at 70 a day, double the rate in March and April.

We are not seeing major progress.

One reason is that we’re fighting a new kind of war that our leaders don’t understand.

Suicide bombings are part of a conscious strategy that has a record of success in other places. Suicide bombing has gained adherents not because so many fanatics are looking for an excuse to throw away their lives, but because it works.

[…]

Americans have trouble imagining how the insurgents could hope to succeed without any positive vision of Iraq’s future – and without any apparent agenda except slaughtering people. But the core of their appeal is the same as that of most other suicide bombing campaigns: nationalistic opposition to a foreign military presence.

[…]

The dilemma the United States faces in fighting the insurgents is that military methods are not enough to solve the problem, and may make it worse. If the movement is a reaction to the U.S. military presence, keeping American troops in Iraq amounts to fighting a fire with kerosene.

That explains why the longer we stay, the more suicide attacks we face. And it suggests that the only feasible strategy is to withdraw from Iraq and turn the fight over to the Iraqi government.

I’m not sure if McGovern, McGovern, and Chapman are right, but one does wonder how long we’re expected to stay on, with some saying we’ll be there for years to come. Certainly a far cry from the quick in and out war we were led to expect.