Not another Vietnam ... yet

On Tuesday, presidential candidate Ralph Nader called for the unilateral withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and suggested an international force replace them -- essentially passing the buck to the brothers, fathers and sons of other nations to clean up our mess. While I would like to see all of our troops come home safely, the violence continuing in Iraq dictates that the U.S. Armed Forces remain as a security force to provide an opportunity for a free Iraq to flourish. For the sake of freedom and American accountability in the international arena, the United States must finish what it started. The United States has not yet created another Vietnam scenario, but if we abandon Iraq now, another Vietnam is what we will have.\nAlthough it is true the "clear and present danger" of the "weapons of mass destruction" was the wrong reason to give the world to go into Iraq, Saddam Hussein had ample opportunity to clear himself of these allegations. To that end and to my knowledge, no public official of the United Nations, France, Germany, China or Russia ever disputed the existence of these weapons before the Powell speech or the invasion. Instead, France and Russia preferred to subsidize Hussein's evil regime and give the U.N. inspectors "more time." If they didn't think they were there, why would they look for them? \nSo let us now end the argument about why we went there, deal with the fact we are there and understand why we cannot yet leave. \nPulling out now would drastically undercut the already damaged American prestige abroad. The terrorists now wreaking havoc in Iraq will not cease their attacks against an international coalition sans U.S., proven by the previous attacks against the small U.N. presence there. To leave now would be a criminal abrogation of responsibility on our part and the indiscriminate killing of innocents will continue.\nIn the face of the ongoing violence and terror, we must not imitate the cowardice of Spain. There is no evidence to suggest Spain will be any safer from future violence now that they are leaving Iraq. Rather, Spain's decision to bring its troops home -- i.e., giving the terrorists exactly what they wanted -- invites new bloodshed because murdering 191 people has proven to deliver results from Madrid. This is not a message we can afford to deliver to the world.\nFurthermore, Vietnam serves as a reminder we cannot simply leave a war without severe consequences. We lost international credibility for decades because the U.S. government discarded an ally to appease a domestic anti-war movement. To add injury to insult, 50,000 American men and women consequently died in vain by failing to fulfill a promise made to the South Vietnamese government. If we pull out of Iraq now, we can watch the fall of Baghdad in shame when the insurgents take control of a helpless country -- just like our parents watched the fall of Saigon. \n Another lesson lost on withdrawal advocates is Afghanistan. Although we should not take full responsibility for the emergence of the Taliban, our neglect of Afghanistan after we trained and armed it to drive back the Soviet invasion in the 1980s set the stage for the terrible regime we had to eliminate two decades later. We must work with positive forces in Iraq to help shape its future so we do not have to deal with it again in another 20 years. \nWe owe it to the people of Iraq, the principles of freedom and our fallen soldiers to learn from the mistakes of the past to work toward a safer, democratic Iraq. \nWhen this is accomplished, we can bring our heroes home.