Posted by
Thomas Lasher on Friday, February 09, 2007 9:32:00 PM
President Bush announced on January 10, in a primetime television address, that troop levels in Iraq will be increased by more than twenty thousand. This increase in our military commitment there was met with disapproval from those on the left who feel we should instead cut our losses and leave Iraq as soon as possible. These critics of the war fail to appreciate the importance of our success in that region and have never understood the importance of Iraq in our global mission in the so-called “War on Terror.”
In Part I of this series I explained, as the President pointed out in his speech, that security in Iraq is now our top priority. Those favoring withdraw argue that our main objective had always been to topple Saddam Hussein and search for weapons of mass destruction. With Saddam now dead and the WMD missing and assumed destroyed, these war opponents now suggest we make a hasty retreat and claim that we did what we came to do, even absent any real semblance of stability. They wish to make Iraq another Vietnam, where we “won the war but lost the peace.”
But peace and security must be our long-term objective in Iraq. Toppling a single dictator and clearing one nation of biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons does not neutralize the entire threat posed by the radical elements throughout the Middle East. Iraq is only one front in a much larger war, and that is a point that is seldom given play in the mainstream media even though President Bush clearly reiterates it, as he did again in January.
“…victory in Iraq will bring something new in the Arab world - a functioning democracy that polices its territory, upholds the rule of law, respects fundamental human liberties, and answers to its people. A democratic Iraq will not be perfect. But it will be a country that fights terrorists instead of harboring them - and it will help bring a future of peace and security for our children and grandchildren.”
Leaving Iraq now will not achieve this broader objective. Success in Iraq is important not only in and of itself, but more importantly because it sends a signal to the rest of the Middle East and to the world that freedom is on the march. We cannot cut ourselves loose from Iraq and risk a failure that is larger than any one nation. “The consequences of failure are clear: Radical Islamic extremists would grow in strength and gain new recruits. They would be in a better position to topple moderate governments, create chaos in the region, and use oil revenues to fund their ambitions. Iran would be emboldened in its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Our enemies would have a safe haven from which to plan and launch attacks on the American people. On September the 11th, 2001, we saw what a refuge for extremists on the other side of the world could bring to the streets of our own cities. For the safety of our people, America must succeed in Iraq.”
Iraq is only one battle in a much larger war. Even if we withdrew all forces immediately from Iraq this larger war would continue, on other fronts throughout the Middle East and throughout the world. The obsessive focus by the media and many Democrats on the Iraqi theatre obscures that fact that the real war (of which Iraq is only a part) is not just about military engagements and troop deployments, as important as things are. “The challenge playing out across the broader Middle East is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of our time. On one side are those who believe in freedom and moderation. On the other side are extremists who kill the innocent, and have declared their intention to destroy our way of life.” We cannot separate Iraq from this larger global struggle, the struggle of freedom against tyranny.
To win the larger war we must certainly redouble our efforts in the battle for Iraq. We must send more troops; we must fight more effectively. But beyond that, beyond the day-to-day news coverage of victories and lives, won and lost, we must not forget that “… America is engaged in a new struggle that will set the course for a new century. We can and we will prevail.”
Originally published in The Capitol News, February 7, 2007