Note: Recently, the staff of 8th Day Center published a statement, “A Catholic Voice on the
Invasion and Occupation of Iraq.” Part of the statement said: we call for the immediate, planned
withdrawal of all US troops, and the cessation of any plans for permanent US military installations
in Iraq and the control of the Iraqi economy. (http://www.8thdaycenter.org/aboutus/statements.html)

Not surprisingly, on June 16, a bi-partisan congressional resolution calling for an exit strategy was
introduced by Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Neil Abercrombie (R-HI), with a counterpart
resolution in the Senate sponsored by Russ Feingold (D-WI).
(http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0620-20.htm)  The following article by the Chicago
Pledge of Resistance speaks to this call for withdrawal.

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IRAQ: SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GO?
Iraqi anger at US troop presence and the systematic murder and torture of innocent Iraqis has
spun irretrievably out of control. The only way out is immediate withdrawal. – William Odom,
retired Army General and former director of the National Security Agency under President
Reagan 5/6/05

WHY SHOULD WE LEAVE IRAQ?
One very simple reason is that the Iraqi people want us to leave. Strong majorities in both the
Shiite and Sunni populations oppose the occupation.(1) US withdrawal was a major platform
plank of the parties supported by a majority of the Iraqi people in the elections. They want us out.
To ignore their will would violate the fundamental principles of representative democracy and
make a mockery of our claim to have liberated them.

WON’T OUR DEPARTURE LEAD TO CHAOS AND POSSIBLE CIVIL WAR?
No one can say for certain what will happen if and when US forces leave. We can say for certain
what will happen if we stay. The ongoing violence will continue and intensify. The presence of US
forces is the cause of most of the violence now afflicting the Iraqi population. A recent study by
the non-partisan Project on Defense Alternatives(2) shows the US is locked in a vicious circle in
Iraq. The insurgency fights the occupation and occupation forces fight because there is resistance.
Violent attacks in Iraq are still increasing, two years into the occupation. We don’t know that the
violence will stop with the end of occupation. We do know that it will not end as long as the
occupation continues.

WON’T US WITHDRAWAL CREATE A BREEDING GROUND FOR TERRORISTS?
Iraq posed no terrorist threat to the US prior to the war. Now it is the recruiting poster child for
Al Qaeda and other international terrorists. The CIA affiliated National Intelligence Council says
“Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of ‘professionalized’
terrorists.”  Far from making us more secure, the occupation of Iraq only increases our
vulnerability.

NOW THAT WE’RE THERE, SHOULDN’T WE STAY AND FINISH THE JOB?
Allied forces in World War II liberated Europe in 41 months. The occupation of Iraq has now
lasted more than half as long and no reasonable person can say that we’re halfway to our goal.
Indeed, no one can really tell us precisely what our goal in Iraq is or how we’ll know we’ve
achieved it. Remember the promises from war planners before the invasion that victory would be
quick, cheap, and achieved with few casualties? We’re now more than two years into an
occupation that has cost the lives of more than 1700 young American men and women and added
more than $200 billion to our exploding national debt. The occupation continues to cost almost
$6 billion per month. To keep throwing young lives and billions of dollars into this quagmire is
unjustifiable.

DON’T WE HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO STAY AND HELP THE IRAQI PEOPLE?
As much as Americans have suffered from the occupation, Iraqi suffering has been much worse.
The prestigious British medical journal, The Lancet, estimates that over 100,000 Iraqi civilians
have been killed since the conflict began.(3) The UN Human Rights Commission has received
evidence that malnutrition amongst Iraqi children has almost doubled since the US invasion(4)
Iraqi infrastructure has been devastated and electricity is in shorter supply than before the war.
And the Iraqi people, by wide margins, oppose the occupation and want occupation forces to
leave.(5) A solution to Iraq’s woes, given its complex tribal and ethnic tensions, will have to be
political, not military. But the various political, religious, and ethnic factions in Iraq cannot
negotiate their differences while civil society crumbles around them and the US wields ultimate
power.

WHAT ABOUT RECONSTRUCTION EFFORTS IN IRAQ?
The US does have a legal and moral obligation to help rebuild in the wake of the destruction
caused by US weapons. But reconstruction aid must be controlled by a representative government
composed of Iraqis and not used as corporate welfare for big US campaign contributors. Of the
billions of dollars authorized for reconstruction efforts in Iraq the lion’s share has gone to
bolstering the bottom lines of politically connected companies such as Halliburton and Bechtel
and very little has reached the people of Iraq. Over $1 billion in reconstruction funds are
unaccounted for.(6) The Iraqi people are capable of rebuilding their country, if given true control
of their own destiny.

ACTIONS
1. Call/write your congressperson/senators and tell them you want the US troops to return home
now. To reach your congressperson and senators, call the congressional switchboard at 202/224-
3121 and ask for your congressperson/senators’ offices. Or, visit http://www.house.gov/ to find
out contact info for your congressperson and http://www.senate.gov to find info for your
senators.

Endnotes
1.http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-04-28-poll-cover_x.htm
2. http://www.comw.org/pda/0505rm10.html
3.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7967-2004Oct28.html
4.http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A809-2004Nov20?language=printer
5.http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-04-28-poll-cover_x.htm
6.http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/10/16/iraq_audit_cant_find_billions?mode=PF