Kathlyn Hotynski

Last week, President Bush went on television to lay out his plan to the American public for a troop surge in Iraq. Reaction to his suggested 21,500 troop personnel increase has been largely met with disapproval.

Democrats, Republicans and the American public alike responded by shooting down his plan and many have called for a complete withdrawal from the country, either gradual or immediate. But what is perhaps most troubling about these plans is how they seem to be ignoring one important part of the Iraq conflict – the Iraqi people.

Whether we like to talk about it or not, there are thousands of people in Iraq suffering every day, most of whom are not U.S. military personnel. The death total for Iraqi civilians in 2006 ranged anywhere from 12,500 to 34,452, depending on whether you believe the Iraqi government’s or the United Nations’ report.

Whichever number is closer to the truth, the point is that there is still not a reasonable semblance of a self-sustaining government in Iraq, and it is costing thousands of Iraqis’ their lives every month. Neither the pull out plan nor Bush’s troop surge will help change the Iraqi people’s current situation for the better.

A gradual or immediate troop withdrawal would, at this point, be disastrous for the country of Iraq. The Iraqi military and police force cannot keep the peace by themselves, despite their best efforts.

There is not enough time or U.S. troops in Iraq to properly train a homegrown security force, with reports of Iraqi police and military personnel being killed coming in every day. The decision to dissolve the standing Iraqi army following the fall of Baghdad in 2003 continues to haunt the U.S. rebuilding efforts as not enough of the Iraqi security forces are able to fight the counter-insurgency without U.S. support. Without a U.S. presence in the country to stem the sectarian fighting, Iraq would most certainly slip into uncontrollable chaos.

The president’s proposed increase in troop numbers in the country also fails to address the needs of the Iraqi people. If Bush was committed to actually helping create a more stable Iraq, he would have probably taken that 21,500 troops and multiplied it by 10. But even that would not be guaranteed to work, since the problems with the United States’ rebuilding strategy run deeper than just the number of troops. This marginal of an increase will not make Iraq a more secure place and will only slightly help our troops do their job safer. Bush’s move reeks of desperation – it amounts to nothing more than a cup of water to quell the inferno of violence in Iraq.

There are some potential strategies that could benefit the Iraqi people, but they are not seeing the kind of support the pull out and troop surge options have. In the recent Iraq Study Group report, an idea was suggested that would involve the neighboring countries of Syria and Iran in the Iraq rebuilding process. The U.S. military, while being key to stopping wholesale violence from occurring in Iraq, does not seem completely trained or equipped to deal with the cultural and regional elements that are fueling the country’s internal violence.

Neighboring governments that are more familiar with the ethnic struggles that plague Iraq would help in the diplomatic and governmental sense while the U.S. troops would continue to keep the peace and aid in infrastructure rebuilding. This plan, while finding support amongst some Democrats and Republicans, has been largely ignored by the president.

As more and more Americans are supporting any sort of pull out from Iraq, the consequences of this shift must be considered. Many Americans, politicians and civilians alike, are simply concerned with the safety of U.S. troops, not considering the future of the Iraqi people.

A recent AP poll showed that 60 percent of Americans do not believe there will be a stable, democratic government established in Iraq. The situation in Iraq is not unsolvable and believing so would be a disservice to the Iraqi people. This kind of either defeatist or uncaring point of view is only going to help sully the already poor view the world has of this country. The global perception of the U.S. as a nation only concerned with itself will be further validated in the minds of the global community if we continue this course of abandonment of the Iraqi people.

Americans cannot forget the Iraqi people when contemplating a new strategy for Iraq. It is not only an issue of humanitarianism, but also in future diplomatic relations for the United States.

If we continue with the Bush administration’s current strategy or simply bail out of Iraq, the world community would view the U.S. as shortsighted and uncaring in international affairs. This would hurt our chances for global backing in case we ever have a legitimate reason to remove a country’s dangerous regime, like potentially in North Korea. The future stability and success of the Iraqi people and government will be closely tied to America’s future stature as a world power.

Langton is a junior print journalism major and copy editor of The Spectator.