Op-ed in USA Today: After the killing of Iran Gen. Qassem Soleimani, it’s time for America to leave Iraq

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 6, 2020
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, in an opinion editorial published by USA Today, Defense Priorities Policy Director Benjamin H. Friedman argues for a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq and the broader region—especially in the wake of the U.S. military strike that killed Iranian IRGC Gen. Qassem Soleimani—to keep U.S. troops safe and avoid war with Iran.

The reckless decision to kill Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, along with several other Iraqi and Iranian officials, cannot be undone. But it can be an impetus for the belated exit of U.S. forces from Iraq, who may still avoid needless trouble.

Iraq’s parliament passed a resolution calling for the U.S. military forces (along with other foreign units) to be expelled. Washington should accept the invitation.

Even critics of killing Soleimani note he was a murderer, who had U.S. “blood on his hands.” While this is true, it’s largely beside the point. U.S. foreign policy does not exist to dispense global justice by punishing the wicked. It exists to serve U.S. security and prosperity, and protect our liberties here at home. Talk of justice distracts from consideration of consequences. Soleimani’s death is likely to lead to bad ones, possibly including broader war, especially if we insist on leaving relatively small numbers of forces nearby to absorb the trouble this week’s strike set off.

…The idea that U.S. forces have to remain in Iraq to defeat the remnant of [ISIS] ignores the evident will of Iraqis to do that themselves, the historical lesson that U.S. forces have helped spark rather than quell renewed insurgency, and the ability to return to strike [ISIS] in extremis. Continuing the mission would be a bad idea, even if didn’t risk a massive and utterly counterproductive war with Iran.

Rather than send more U.S. forces to the region where they will join in vulnerability with those already there, the United States should remove its forces from Iraq and begin exiting the broader region. As the events of the last two weeks underline, the smattering of U.S. forces in the region are not accomplishing anything useful, but are enough to pull the United States into another needless war.

Read the entire op-ed in USA Today.