The Phased Withdrawal of the United States Troops from Iraq - Essay Example

Following eight hours of extensive research, I am in a position to inform you that there is overwhelming evidence for the imperatives of immediately implementing a plan for the phased withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. These arguments revolve around all economic, political, and national security considerations.

Economic Argument
In domestic terms, the opportunity cost of the war is unsustainable:
• Katrina victims, requiring nothing more than 2.5% of the total cost of the war to date, in relief aid, have not been granted those funds due to the unavailability of resources (Becker and Posner, 2004).
• Ever since the outbreak of the war, the United States has been derelict in its duty to provide aid to hurricane victims;
• The Iraq War has severely constrained the capacity of the United States to tend to the needs of its citizens, whether in the areas of health or education (Turner, 2005).
• The cost of the war translates into 11,000,000 four year college/university scholarships for US citizens; and
• The cost of the war could has covered the health insurance of the nation’s children (Turner, 2005)

National Security
Paradoxically, while the Iraq war was launched in the name of national security it has effectively undermined national security.
• Iraq has become a recruiting ground for terrorists (DeYoung, 2006);

• Iraq war has incited anti-American sentiments across the world, including in Europe. As Albrechtsen (2007) quotes a European thinker and writer, Markovitz as saying: "European anti-Americanism is becoming an unprecedented Europe-wide lingua franca … key mobilizing agent for a common European identity.”

• Defense analysts maintain that troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan are “sapping’ American military power and undermining its capacity to effectively defend the mainland (Conetta, Knight and Murphy, 2004); and

• War has solidified perception of the United States as the enemy of Arabs and Muslims and, therefore, has made it a prime target for terrorist groups in these countries and regions (Klein, 2006);

The implication here is that the Iraq War has not resolved the pre-national security threats that the nation was confronting. Indeed, it has expanded upon and intensified these threats.

Political Concerns
Apart from the political implications of the economic and national security concerns cited above, the argument for a phased withdrawal from Iraq is further predicated on a set of domestic political concerns. Central to these concerns is the divisive nature of the war. The war in Iraq has divided the American people and, in so doing, has transformed the very concept of political debate and differences of opinion in this country, into conflict. While divisions and disagreements are not new to American society, they have only reached their present heights in very few instances, such as the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War (Black and Black, 2007). This means that the very concept of national unity and cohesion, such as which makes nations strong and ensures social stability, is being undermined by the Iraq War. This, in itself, is a strong and powerful indicator of the imperatives of a phased withdrawal.

Iraq and the Middle East
The impact of the war on Iraq and its potential effect on the Middle East further solidifies the arguments in favor of troop withdrawal. As noted in an American Friends Service Committee (2005) article, the American occupation of Iraq has failed to realize any of its supposed objectives, whether the democratization of the country or the stabilization and unification of Iraq. Instead, Iraqis are more divided than they have ever been, society is infinitely more unstable, law and order have effectively broken down, and the country is being consumed by civil war. Political analysts have determined that the situation will only grow from bad to worse as long as the United States remains in the country as an occupying force (AFSC, 2005; Baker et al., 2006).

In addition to the above, the US occupation of Iraq functions as a threat to the entire Middle East and undermines the stability of the moderate regimes therein, such as the Egyptian and the Jordanian, among others. The United States is on the brink of losing its staunchest allies in the region due to the fact that pro-US regimes are perceived as anti-Arab and anti-national traitors (AFSC, 2005).