The Case for the Withdrawal from Iraq

There can no longer be any doubt: the Iraq war, immoral and unjustified, is the greatest threat to United States' national security and the most potent danger to our principles of freedom and cultural respect. A war waged on pretexts of fraud and deception, our presence in Iraq has strengthened and emboldened terrorists worldwide, resulted in the death of more than two thousand American soldiers and ten and a half times as many innocent Iraqi civilians, rotted our domestic and military institutions, and devastated a country to the brink of civil war. Do not be fooled by the hollow and self-congratulatory rhetoric of our president, this is not a war of Jeffersonian idealism, but of insidious and undeterred imperialism. Before anymore American blood, wealth, or political effort is poured into this futile and illegal war, U.S. forces must make a speedy withdrawal a top priority.

As you reflect this Thanksgiving on the disaster of Iraq--the death of our fellow countrymen and the death of innocent Iraqi civilians, the billions of dollars we will someday be made to pay, and the terrorists invigorated by a desire for vengeance threatening our safety--—consider this: nothing is worse than knowing that your mother, your father, your brother, your aunt or your uncle died in vain. The Iraqi people--—though at times it'’s hard to imagine--—also want democracy and freedom. Let's heed their call for autonomy, for representation, and for peace; let's give a noble purpose to an ignoble war. The United States can't ship Iraqis democracy on the barrels of M-16s and AK-47s, we can give the Iraqis freedom by allowing them to be free--free from American rule.

Read my entire newspaper article.