Bring them home

By Libby Spencer

The Chicago Sun Times joins a growing chorus of editorials calling for withdrawal of occupation forces from Iraq. It makes the usual points on the Democrats' failure to act decisively on this, albeit with more eloquence than most, but here's the money quote.

We shocked and awed our way into Iraq four years ago, so if Baghdad should become an al-Qaida stronghold, what's to stop us from shocking and awing the city again? If 6 million Jews, surrounded by more than 200 million Arabs, have not been annihilated, why do we believe that an Iraq withdrawal will lead to a pitched battle with invading terrorist forces on Main Street in Peoria?

Of all the memes this White House has successfully foisted on the average American, the fear of being "taken over" by the terrorists is the most illogical. There's a wealth of evidence that our continued presence and current policies are making are making us less safe, yet there are thousands of people who will tell you in all seriousness that we must stay in Baghdad because if we don't, the terrorists will follow us home like a lost puppy and cut off our heads.

How does that even make sense? Our mighty military can't keep them from coming into Baghdad, so why would anyone believe we can stop them from leaving any time they want? And it's not like the Terrorist Liberation Army is going to arrive in their fleet of C5-As and start marching down the main streets of America in platoons. If they had the decency to organize in large units, we would have been able to find them by now.

Common sense would tell you that keeping our troops mired in the slaughterhouse of Iraq is doing little more than creating a greater opportunity for terrorism, not diminishing its threat. It's too bad so many of my fellow citizens seem to have misplaced theirs.

(Cross-posted at The Impolitic.)