What do you think will happen if we suddenly pull all of our troops out of Iraq?

Question

Just curious.

(Please note that I am not advocating that we do this!)

Answer 1

There would be utter chaos. Their government is not strong enough to support itself and there would be groups trying to overthrow it. It would just lead to more violence than there is now. This is just a big mess that the United States has gotten itself into. There is nothing more we can do there but if we pull out it would probably be worse than it was before we went in. There's just no answer for how to solve this problem.

Answer 2

Iraq would disintegrate and in all likelihood break into three sections. In the process a civil war would start between the central region and either the Kurds or the southern section (I can’t remember which sect of Islam is which) because It will be left with little more than sand while the other two receive oil fields. The Kurdish region may try to annex part of turkey that has a large Kurdish population, starting another war. Iran would annex the middle portion because of similar religions standing and in all likely hood try to attack the southern region and what would become “Kurdistan”. I see the seeds for another world war starting given this situation because of the immediate threat to oil, especially if Iran takes Iraq with ease and is primed to take the other oil producing nations in the region.

Answer 3

A nuclear war. The region is already unstable. Their neighbors will fight for the land and utimately destroy it to keep it from the others.
We are not fighting terrorists, we are fighting insurgents. They are coming from outside of Iraq to fight the invading infidels. They are a poor uneducated people guided by their sick and twisted religious leaders. All the know it alls talk about the sectarian violence between the Sunni's and Shite's, the truth is, that it is all a charade, and the strings are being pulled by the Pastun's. The largest of the religious sects. With over 40 million worldwide, 20 million in that region alone, and 44,000 in America. That is your terriost network. You want Central intelligence people, get an education and stay away from CNN. You aren't learning a damn thing. With the exception of a few of you!

Answer 4

The little bit of democracy in place would fall and a dictator regime would quickly grab power. The chances of a full blown civil war (what we are doing currently is policing a civil war) would occur. The Iraq people have had a taste of technology and that would probably influence the outcome above all else. People have a desire to grow and learn, its figuring out how those beliefs will be effected by that growth. IMHO

Answer 5

Iran will try to take over Iraq. A bloody civil war would take place. Women would be suppressed even greater. The terrorists all around the world would celebrate crying "victory." More countries would consider us a joke. We need to stay until it is finished.

Answer 6

Well, we can't pull them out all at once because the entire idea was to make a gradual transition into allowing them to control their own. They don't yet have that, so slowly decreasing our presence would be the only way to keep any progress that has been made from completely collapsing.

Answer 7

Foolish Notion

Answer 8

One of your responders tells us that all Gaul was divided into three parts, suggesting that partition would result from our cutting and running: one wedge of the pie for the Shiiites, one for the Sunnis, and one for the Kurds. Can't say that I disagree on the question of partition, even if not on the question of cutting and running.

I'm not sure I believe that partition would necessarily be a bad thing, but it could not be accompanied by our cutting and running. We would certainly need to stay close by, in order to make sure that a partitioned Iraq, at least, could survive that way, both in the context of potential internal insurgents and in the context of opportunistic neighboring countries such as Iran.

Maybe, like the people of the United States at the time of our own country's infancy, the Iraqis need to go through their Articles of [Loose] Confederation phase before going for a real constitution and a federal, but unitary, republic, a time to sort out their priorities in balancing their need for internal cohesion and peace with their need for the kind of strength that only unity can bring in the face of external opportunistic threats from a common enemy that threatens all three of them.

If that's what they want, they ought to have a large say in it; and if a viable partition and confederation requires compromise among the three of them on the question of an equitable division of oil revenues, it seems to me that that should be possible.

I see no loss of face for the United States, and no threat of civil war, chaos, or genocide that couldn't be handled, if we were to permit a mid-course correction to be made that would accommodate what the Iraqis themselves really want, if partition (with equitable allocation of oil revenues among the three of them) is in fact what they really want and if we stay close to assure that peace among the three of them is preserved as they explore baby steps toward real unity within a federal system.

It may not be all that easy even for the Iraqis themselves to figure out what they really want. Sometimes it seems to me that the Iraqis are fighting what was to us our Revolutionary War and what was to us our Civil War, which in our case were separated by three-quarters of a century, all at the same time. No wonder it's so screwed up.

Of course if we did go down that road, it seems likely to me that the biggest challenge we'd face, just as it has become the biggest challenge that we now face, is that presented by a segment of our own citizens, who have become disenchanted with our own federal system somewhere along the way and, what's worse, almost seem as if they'd prefer an outcome where the United States did suffer a loss of face, and credibility, and influence in any attempt to resolve the situation in Iraq.

Answer 9

Well the most important thing that would happen is that the men and women of the Armed Forces will stand a better chance at living a longer healthier life. We need to bring them home NOW. To many of them have died all ready. And for what? I dare anyone to give me one, just one example of how this country has benefited from the war in Iraq?

Answer 10

Bush said we won't leave til the job is done and I really have to agree with that. We need to stabilize that country so they can stand on their own and gradually pull out.