hankyoreh

Calls from within the United States for a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq are growing stronger. In an unusually long editorial yesterday, The New York Times called for a swift withdrawal of American troops. Members of the Democratic Party and even prominent Republican members of Congress are also joining in. Opinion polls confirm that the American public can no longer bear the war in Iraq.

These calls for withdrawal also stand to confirm that the U.S. policy on Iraq announced January has been a failure. In response to similar calls following last year’s mid-term elections, U.S. President George W. Bush argued that the situation in Iraq was only likely to worsen and sent more troops there earlier this year. While passing the most recent war spending bill, the U.S. Congress and Administration legally stipulated 18 goals for political and governmental stability in Iraq. The current calls for withdrawal are based on the judgment that it will be hard to achieve those goals and that it has become hard to expect that the situation in Iraq will turn around. In other words, it will be hard for the United States to implement the ‘‘final phase’’ of its strategy, which involves long-term stationing of troops after the establishment of a foundation of stability and public security achieved by increasing the number of troops in the country. The need has arisen for a fundamental revision of U.S. policy on Iraq. Leaving a war that is wrong and began on false intelligence can never happen too soon. We call on the U.S. Administration and Congress to make the right decision.

The problem is that the situation in Iraq is going to get worse whether U.S. troops leave or not. The situation is increasingly turning into a civil war were everyone is killing each other, to the point where Iraq’s vice president is encouraging people to arm themselves for self-defense. Should the United States withdraw right now, one worry is that there could be civil conflict between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, and international conflict involving countries like Iran, Syria and Turkey. There are millions of Iraqi refugees as it is, and their number is expected to increase. If a massive, all out war is not the solution, then there needs to be diplomatic means or international cooperation on resolving the situation, with eye on the bigger picture in the Middle East question. The United States should not avoid reconciliation with the Islamic world, including such measures as dialogue with Iran.

With the situation in Iraq in such a state of fundamental change, the Korean government has no reason to extend the time Korean troops spend there. The opportunities for Korean business and Korean oil mining that have been discussed are indeed important, but you wonder whether either would even be possible, given the current situation. The safety of Korean troops in Iraq is the greatest priority. The government needs to announce a withdrawal deadline as soon as possible and establish a process for implementation immediately.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]