Iraq Questions: Are you going to leave?

The debate surrounding what to do with American involvement in Iraq is a divisive if not perplexing issue. Yet, the decisions taken will have a direct impact on what needs to be done moving forward.

After all the fierce debating and numerous (and endless writings and ruminations) on the subject what can be discerned that the lines that divide are clear and straightforward.

On one side, there exists the believe and stance that the United States should never have taken on such a mission. It is seen as illegal and illegitimate in the eyes of domestic and international public opinion. It should have been undertaken in consultation with the UN. Ergo, a pull out is the only natural and moral thing to do. Cut your losses and lick your wounds. Whatever happens afterwards is a lesson to be learned.

Those who advocated the dismantling of Iraq failed to execute it properly and time is fast running out on them.

On the counter-assertion, in the name of security, Iraq was necessary when considering the global nature of terrorism. It was the right course of action and that a pull out is an error for geopolitical reasons - miscalculations notwithstanding. This line of thinking tends to have a realpolitik angle to it. In terms of the UN, 9/11 dictated that most international structures and treaties all bets were off . Like WWI shattered the Treaty of Westphalia, 9/11 questioned the world order designed (mostly by the United States) after WWII.

Indeed, as it stands, the people who assert that it was a mistake are claiming they were right all along. However, this is premature. Anyone - on either side - who believed this was going to be short and easy was irresponsible. The day the Americans marched into Baghdad was the day the real war on terror was going to begin. This is going to take a generation or two to fight.

Perhaps the American body politic should have sold this angle better. But they didn't and it's time to move on.

This aside, should these two positions be the only options Americans have to consider? What about what Iraqi's think and feel?

Not enough is being reported about this - other than polls that is. The two sides are so busy pointing fingers and engaging in partisanship that insists on carrying historical political baggage, that they forget one simple premise: America is there.

Simply recommending a pull out is not a solution. The unintended consequences of this action could be as problematic as the one that led the U.S. into it.

So who to listen to? Right now, it seems Al-Queda is banking on a few things and one of them is Americans signaling that they are about to abandon Iraqi's. What if the average Iraqi is watching the Americans closely? If the Americans show a full force of will perhaps this will rally Iraqi's to the right side. On the other hand, if the Americans leave does this not throw Iraqi's into the arms of AQI?

Either way America is in Iraq. Arguing about how they got there is now counter productive to all involved. Practical and intelligent solutions are needed. Not paltry "resolutions" that amount to nothing more than lame political games.