Future Direction of Troops in Iraq??

With the upcoming changes in presidency on most everyone's mind, I thought I'd discuss a few things related to the direction our newly elected officials have shared regarding our troops in Iraq. Although a specific plan of action has not yet been declared, or possibly kept under wraps until Obama takes office, the players involved have shared a few comments that leads to some ideas about how Iraq will be handled. I'll point out again that my role on this blog is to focus on the opinions, beliefs, and ideals of Iraq and potentially other Middle Eastern States involved with the war in Iraq. For this particular topic though I feel it is important to point out what a few people have said.

• On January 13, Senator (and soon to be Secretary of State) Hilary Clinton spoke to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She stated that the focus of our troops should shift towards Afghanistan and Pakistan safe-havens for al Qaeda terrorists. "We can lead at home...while enhancing economic production and security."
• al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden recently released a recording urging Islamic nations to continue their Jihad against "Crusader-Zionist coalitions." He also questioned whether America could continue their pursuit of democracy with force, claiming it was not likely.
• President elect Obama's opinion...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDhOxNeOj4U

It seems evident that we will be working on pulling troops out of Iraq ASAP. An agreement has been signed to reduce armed forces in Iraq by 2011. A philosophical shift is coming on the American side, but how will that effect Iraqi government and armed forces? The perception of American troops by residents of Iraq seems mixed. Although some have embraced what we've done, there is a large majority that refuse to accept the ideals we encourage.

Once Iraq is left to promote their own democracy, will they? Are they willing to stand up to organizations against democracy to promote their state? Is the infrastructure set to enable future success? These questions are posed not in search of concrete answers. Those answers lie in the ideals, norms, and beliefs of the nation in addition to the history or established direction of the state.

To tie this into our class studies, another question to pose is can a state that has historically been a realist nation with a dictatorship rule suddenly change their approach and mentality and promote democracy? A lot of people argue that this is too difficult, that religion plays too big a role, or there are other factors involved. Others claim that it has been done before on a different scale. Only time will tell.

Posted by Mark