One of the most vocal opponents of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, William Rivers Pitt of Truthout, has fallen into the trap set by the War Party.
If we haul stakes and leave, we risk having the country collapse permanently into a Balkanized state of civil and religious war that will help to create a terrorist stronghold in the mold of Afghanistan post-1989.
This is the trap the War Party sets every time they invade a country. They create a quagmire, then argue that it will be a disaster if we leave.
During the Vietnam War, many in the Antiwar Movement argued against immediate, unconditional US withdrawal for exactly the same reason, that it would create chaos. Cries of “Negotiations Now” competed with the principled “Out Now” stance of committed antiwar activists.
But Pitt forgets this important point: the US has no right to control the future of the Iraqi people, at any time. His argument that we can’t let Iraq become a balkanized or unstable government is identical to the neocons’ current argument for staying in Iraq.
Pitt asks to hear feedback from his supporters on what to do to resolve his dilemma:
It truly is a perfect storm Bush and his friends have dropped us into, and there are no easy answers. “Leave now!” is the wrong answer, but so is “Stay!”