Theregular
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- Jul 11, 2005
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WASHINGTON (AFX) - The US should cut its losses, pull out of Iraq promptly and never again use its military might to build a nation according to its own values, former CIA chief John Deutch wrote in The New York Times.
US military presence in Iraq is harming US interests in the Arab world, detracts attention from other 'important security challenges... North Korea, Iran and international terrorism,' and weakens the US military, said Deutch, who before heading the Central Intelligence Agency (1995-1996) was deputy defenCe secretary (1994-1995).
'Those who argue that we should 'stay the course' because an early withdrawal... would hurt America's global credibility must consider the possibility that we will fail in our objectives in Iraq and suffer an even worse loss of credibility down the road,' he said.
'I do not believe that we are making progress on any of our key objectives in Iraq,' he said, adding that even when the Iraqi government appears to be functioning, 'the underlying destabilizing effect of the insurgency is undiminished.'
Deutch's call comes amid plummeting US public support for the war, an insurgency which sees a daily death toll hitting Iraqi civilians and security personnel alike, and some 1,750 US soldiers dead since March 2003.
However, another recent survey shows that a majority of Americans backed US President George Bush's vow to maintain US troops in Iraq until the country can govern and control itself.
Rather than spend years, money and lives in Iraq to achieve 'minimum conditions for withdrawal' -- security and a representative self-government -- Deutch argues that a quick withdrawal now will avoid a lot of grief to come.
'Our best strategy now is a prompt withdrawal plan consisting of clearly defined political, military and economic elements,' including urging Iraq and its neighbours to recognize that it will be in everyone's interest to allow Iraq to 'evolve peacefully and without external intervention', Deutch said.
http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2005/07/15/afx2140520.html