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The Troops Want to End Iraq Occupation in 2006
By
Richard B. Mazess
02/28/06 "ICH" -- --
A
recent Zogby poll of 944 US soldiers in Iraq reported
that 72% thought all troops should withdraw this year. The views of
the troops differ markedly from those of their commander-in-chief,
and the administration; only 23% wanted to “stay-the-course”. The
troops views, however, concur with those of the foreign policy
establishment, e.g., General William Odom, former national security
advisors Brent Scowcroft, Zbignew Brezinski, and see:
http://democracyrising.us/content/view/359/151/. It is not
surprising that liberal experts would favor withdrawal, since they
viewed the invasion as a strategic error, but many conservative
pundits, who initially favored the invasion, have now recognized it
as a failure, with a trillion dollar cost, that is increasingly
problematic for both Middle East stability and worldwide American
credibility. The hostilities in Iraq are thought to greatly
increase the risk of terror attacks elsewhere
according to a BBC poll of 41,000 people in 35 countries.
There were differences in the Zogby poll among
the service branches with the Reserves and National Guard
overwhelming in favor of withdrawal (89% and 82%) this year compared
to the Army and Marines (69% and 58% respectively). Even more
impressively, three-quarters of the Guard and Reserves, and half of
the Army, favored withdrawal within 6 months. Marines were more
inclined to stay as long as needed (37%), but only a quarter of the
Army, and 9% of the Guard and Reserves felt that way. Apparently
Senator Russ Feingold and Rep. Jack Murtha knew what they were
talking about when they proposed many months ago that the troops had
done everything possible and should be leaving Iraq in 2006
http://www.counterpunch.org/murtha11172005.html ;
http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/statements/05/10/20051025IQ.html
. The view of the troops parallels the documented feeling of the
Iraqi public; 80% want US forces out within months (and 50% feel
that attacks on the US “occupiers” are justified). Similarly there
is near unanimity among the Iraqi political leadership that US
forces should withdraw as soon as tactically possible. At a meeting
in Cairo last November these leaders proposed the US withdraw troops
from Iraqi cities by May 2006
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=19930.
Support for rapid withdrawal in the Zogby
survey of troops, three-quarters of whom had served two or more
tours of duty, was even higher than among the U.S. public. A
majority of the US public (almost 60%) now believes that the troops
should be withdrawn this year. Moreover, almost half of the public
say that the US should never have invaded and troops should be
withdrawn immediately. The view of the troops is more in accord
with that of Democrat or progressive voters, 80% of whom favor rapid
withdrawal. In contrast Republican voters (41%) are less inclined
for withdrawal. Support for the administrations’ performance in Iraq
is waning among military officers as well
http://www.militarycity.com/polls/2005_main.php.
Troops and the public disagree on the reasons
for the war, but both groups now eschew the egregious propaganda
about Saddam’s WMD. At the same time the troops ascribe their
mission in Iraq to the administration line that Saddam was harboring
al Qaeda (77%) and was involved in the 9/11 attacks (85%); over half
the public no longer believes these obvious administration
falsehoods. While the troops have been misled to accept lies they
also have been misled to reject truths about their mission. Only 11%
see securing strategic oil supplies as a reason for the occupation,
and only 6% recognize the mission as providing long-term US military
bases. In fact the latter two items have been the dominating
concerns of US policy in the Middle East for half a century
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/02/24/will_fight_for_oilbut_we_wont_debate.php
. The Bush administration, with support of both parties in Congress,
has established 14 long-term bases in Iraq to accommodate 50-100,000
troops for the next several decades
http://www.fcnl.org/iraq/bases.htm.
The majority of the troops view the insurgency
as largely homegrown; only 20% say this was not true, and only 25%
think that elimination of non-Iraqi fighters would inhibit the
insurgent forces. Leading experts agree that the ongoing presence
of US troops is itself the major factor exacerbating hostilities,
with both factions of the insurgency (nationalists and Jihadists)
united against foreign occupation. In 2003 the insurgency was
small, and poorly organized, and could only mount 50 attacks weekly.
In 2004 the attack rate went to 150 to 200 per week and in 2005 to
750 attacks weekly. Perhaps because of the increased level of
insurgent activities 53% of the troops opine that a doubling of
troop strength and bombing activity would necessary to control the
insurgency. In spite of the difficult situation over 80% of the
troops maintain good feelings toward the Iraq civilian population.
The recent upsurge of violence in Iraq may make it less politically
possible to have the troop withdrawal that the troops, the Iraqis,
and the American public all desire
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4747316.stm. One
hopeful factor is that the Iraqi resistance offered a ceasefire in
December 2005 to allow occupation forces to peacefully withdraw from
the cities to defined military bases, as suggested by the Iraqi
government a month earlier
http://www.iraqresistance.net/article.php3?id_article=452.
Offsetting this, however, is a complete lack of
response by the Bush administration.
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