Why do people use the number of civilians killed in Iraq as a reason for us to leave?

Question

We see the number of Iraqi civilian deaths (ranging from 30,000 to as high as 650,000 in some cases) used as a reason why we should leave Iraq. Personal feelings should not get in the way of an honest answer to this question.

If anything, the cost of civilian lives in Iraq would probably get worse if we left. The Shia and Sunni are not going to hug and be friends if we left. They will still hate each other, and will still fight and kill. If we are gone though, there will be no stong military presence to help quell the fighting. There will be more ablility for the insurgents to have free reign and cause more harm, but instead of focusing on a well trained and armed military, they will be focusing on civilians of the opposing religion.

Maybe this all happened because we invaded Iraq, but that is something we can't change. If you feel pulling out is still right thing, and our soldiers are paramount, that is fine, but don't use civilian casualties as a reason we should leave.

Massive, I agree with you. Although I feel more will die with out us. But the people who want us out of Iraq want it both ways. It is our presence what will kill more civilians or like you said, the will do it with our without our help.

The crux of of my question is whether or not more civilians will die without us, and how does your answer to that question change whether we should be there or not.

Answer 1

Because some people seem to think that appeasement works.

If the terrorists kill enough civilians - we will pull out and they will win.

Once this happens I expect the Democrats to be saying some variation of: "Peace in our time."

Answer 2

"If thousands or tens of thousands are Iraqi civilians are dying every month......"

How do you know if that number is affected by our presence? Do you personally know how many civilians were killed every month *before* we were there? Does anyone know?? I can almost guarantee that civilian casualties were at about the same level-- I would attribute any rise in civilian casualties since our arrival to insurgents' improved techniques and organization. But of course, no one cares about what life was like there before, do they? Everyone just assumes that things are getting worse... but unless you are here (or have been here) and see the changes that are happening, there is no way you can know. I completely agree with you and feel that if we leave things will get increasingly worse for the Iraqis. If we leave now, we will just be back 6 months later anyway.

Answer 3

I think Gunslinger makes an excellent point and I agree with Dave 100% as well. It's a war...people will die...men, women & children. Innocent civilians and soldiers alike. It's unavoidable.
As far as the # of soldiers that have died, many Americans forget that we've lost more soldiers in past BATTLES than we have in the whole Iraq war. The only difference between now & then is that Americans supported their country then. Now they just use the # of dead soldiers as an excuse to bash the President.

Answer 4

Unfortunately you'll never get these naive twits to understand how the real world works. Whether or not someone thinks entering Iraq was the right decision or not, they're completely naive if they think withdrawing our forces is what's best for that country.

The reason why people use the "civilian deaths" as a reason/excuse is because this country is unfortunately filled with a bunch of hardcore religious people who are too brainwashed to face the reality of the world and society. They don't seem to realize that 90% of civilian casualties is due to the terrorists using them as a shield.

Answer 5

Ok, BarB is an idiot. Sadaam flat out ordered for his army to kill civilians plus he tortured many others too. Bush asked his military to take that SOB out of commission so that Iraq could start their own democracy and let the people be free. He never ordered the us military to kill innocent civilians and if you dig into it, the insurgents and activists are the ones killing civilians, not the us military. Retard!

Oh, sorry I got off track, no, we shouldn't use civilian deaths as a reason to get out.

Answer 6

It sounds like you have a good handle on reality.

Primarily they are using the casualties as an argument because they are unable to address the real issues so they throw things at it to try to stir up emotions. Emotional response is the worst way to make that type of decisions but that doesn't stop a lot of people. That's also why hate speech is used so much by some political groups. They have no rational argument so they use hatred.

Answer 7

People use the civilian casualties as a reason to get out, because the Bush administration used the civilian casualties under Saddam Hussein's tenure as a reason to invade (in addition to the non-existent WMDs). Saddam was a monster, but he was responsible for less Iraqi deaths than we are.

The country should be divided up into three separate nations that represent the main tribal factions. We should provide some transitional support and then leave. If they kill each other after we're out, that's on them. They probably would have killed each other long ago, but their brutal dictator kept them in check.

I just wish everyone could get along for once.

Answer 8

Since the enemy refuses to wear uniforms how can you tell who are civilians? Body counts are still a good way of keeping score. I believe we are ahead.

Answer 9

Sure, in ALL wars people die. But what cause are these people (soldiers included) dying for?

Rip Saddam from power for the Iraqi people? DONE!
Allow Iraqi's to vote? DONE!
Allow Iraqi's to write their own constitution? DONE!

Mission Accomplished. Bring our troops home.

Because we have inept leaders Iraq is worse than ever for civilians of Iraq. No water, no power, no work.

Mission accomplished. Bring out troops home.

Now we allow a blank check for Iraq without any timeline? Sure congress passed the bill to bring our troops home, but GWB in his ultimate wisdom from god will veto it and keep our troops "earning their paycheck" for many, many years to come.

Mission accomplished. Bring our troops home.

Answer 10

I think that the number of civilian deaths will go up sharply if American troops pull out..

Most of the bombings are Iraqis killing other Iraqis. They don't seem like very civilized people to me.