OPINION COLUMN Why U.S. troops are in Iraq

Josh Donat Guest Writer

Why are we in Iraq? It’s an interesting question, and here’s a basic answer: to prevent anarchy.

After World War II, American troops remained in liberated Germany for decades. We didn’t pull our troops out in the 1940s when the war ended. We stayed until the country was stable and could handle things well on its own, until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and its nation was united and free.

Most Germans did not like the Nazi party once they learned what Adolf Hitler was doing in Europe. They would have revolted if they had the power to do so, but is was the joint effort of outside forces, including the United States, that stepped in to stop the too powerful Hitler.

Saddam Hussein is the Iraqi equivalent of Hitler. He has been known for committing heinous crimes against humanity through his decades of power.

Whether weapons of mass destruction are in Iraq or not, great things have been accomplished by our troops.

Support for the Bush administration would likely rise if the administration were to issue a statement admitting they were wrong about some aspects of their rationale to invade, accompanied by an apology. They were wrong; their intelligence was misinformed. It happens.

However, we now inhabit a nation that has no government and insurgents continue to threaten the stability of Iraq. If the U.S. withdraw its forces now it would send a terrible message — that we’re not willing to follow through with our promise of democratization in Iraq.

We would tell the world we can’t back what we preach. We would leave the Iraqi forces that have asked so long for our help with nothing, allowing them to be wiped out by Al-Quaida and other terrorist sects that would undoubtedly overrun the country.

The U.S. became the world’s police force with the organization of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and later the United Nations. That’s the way it is.

We helped Germany become an economic superpower in the world.

We have quite a bit of economic interest in the Middle East. Admittedly, the federal government has a lot to gain financially from the war through oil.

Imagine a Hurricane Katrina knocking out our petroleum supply, forcing us to buy from Saddam. We’d be in a huge pinch then, perhaps shelling out five dollars per gallon for gas. It’s a good thing he’s gone, a good thing our troops are there.

It’s important to remember that with war comes sacrifice of life and money. We should not take the edict of war for granted.

Without our military prescence, a free Iraqi nation doesn’t have a chance. As long as we’re there, terrorist training camps that would control a nation of anarchy cannot expand.

Do we want to take out a dictatorship only to replace it with anarchy? Then why not support our political leaders and allow our troops to finish the job they started.