3 more years in Iraq?

Many people in America, one being President-elect Barack Obama, disagreed with the Iraq war from the very start. Most of those that did not oppose the war back in 2003 oppose it today, and why shouldn’t they. We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on the war, thousands of lives, thousands of severe injuries, and we still have a long way to go before Iraq can be the peaceful, prosperous democracy we want it to be.

Last year Congress created 18 benchmarks that had to be met until they reach what they believe is a “mission accomplished” in Iraq. This past summer the White House declared that 15 out of the 18 benchmarks were “satisfactory”.

Tomorrow there will be a vote amongst the Iraqi government, which will decide the fate of U.S. troop presence in Iraq. If passed, this piece of legislation would remove all U.S. troops from cities and towns by mid 2009, and would remove all troops by the January 2012.

Even if this Iraqi vote does pass, President-elect Barack Obama is truly the one who will decide the fate of American presence in Iraq. Throughout Obama’s campaign he stated that if he became president he would remove all U.S. troops within 16 months of him taking office. So far Obama insists that he will keep his word.

Over the past few months the Iraq war has taken the back seat on many people’s minds, while the economy has become the number one issue. Americans are more concerned with what is going on here at home with our stock market dropping and our economy falling apart right before our eyes. Yet close to 6 years after starting the Iraq war we are still spending 10 billion dollars a week in Iraq and people are still being killed and deformed every day.

There is a consensus between liberals and conservatives that we need to stop this war, but how we stop it and when we stop it is up for interpretation. Some say we must stay there until all 18 criteria are met, while others say we should pull out today. Must we really make sure all 18 criteria are met, or shall we finally say enough is enough with a war that should have never been started, and finally give some independence to the Iraqi people?

List of the 18 benchmarks that Congress says Iraq needs to meet (courtesy Fox News):

• Perform a Constitutional review;
• Enact and implement de-Ba-athification reform legislation;
• Ensure equal distribution of hydrocarbon resources to Iraqis;
• Form semi-autonomous regions;
• Hold provincial elections;
• Enact and implement legislation addressing amnesty;
• Disarm militias;
• Establish support for Baghdad Security Plan;
• Ensure minority rights in Iraqi legislature;
• Keep Iraqi Security Forces free from partisan interference;
• Provide military support in Baghdad;
• Empower Iraqi Security Forces;
• Ensure Iraqi Security Forces provide impartial law enforcement;
• Reduce sectarian violence;
• Establish neighborhood security in Baghdad;
• Increase the number of independent Iraqi security forces;
• Allocate and spend $10 billion in Iraq revenues equally;
• Ensure that Iraq's political authorities do not undermine or make false accusations against members of the Iraqi Security Forces.