Victory in Iraq

The imminent withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraqi cities is being hailed by Iraq's government as a victory over the insurgency. The withdrawal had been planned long in advance once conditions permitted it to occur. Although the insurgents have not yet been completely vanquished, the move means that Iraqi troops are taking an increasingly lead role in putting down the insurgency themselves, which will allow the eventual withdrawal of all foreign forces, if the Iraqis desire.

It is an appropriate time to consider what American troops, together with their allies in the Coalition of the Willing, as well as the Iraqis themselves, have achieved thus far in the Liberation of Iraq.

First, United Nations resolutions were enforced. The resolutions had required Iraq to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program, which it had refused to prove that it had done. The Liberation of Iraq removed from power Saddam Hussein's Baath regime that maintained a WMD program. Not only is the regime no longer able to threaten its neighbors and U.S. allies, interests and troops in the region conventionally or by WMDs because it has been removed from power, but hundreds of chemical weapons (WMDs) were discovered and destroyed, as well as many chemicals that could have been weaponized quickly and other materials such as enriched uranium. Baathist leaders who had used WMDs (e.g. "Chemical" Ali) were captured and punished. Enforcement of UN resolutions is critical in international efforts to limit the proliferation of WMDs and keep them out of the hands of terrorists.

Second, the removal of the Baathist regime also represented a victory in the War on Terrorism, insofar as it removed from power a state sponsor of terrorism. Iraq had harbored and financed terrorists, including some who targeted and killed Americans. For example, Abu Abbas, a Palestinian terrorist who had killed an American, had been given safe harbor in Iraq, where he was the conduit for Hussein's funneling of money to Palestinian suicide bombers, some of whom killed Americans. Because state sponsorship of terrorism not only gives terrorists a haven and money, but confers legitimacy to terrorism, the removal of state sponsors of terrorism is critical to defeating terrorists.

Third, Iraq's neighbors no longer must live in fear of another invasion by Hussein -- the world's only serial aggressor since World War II. As a result, the United States no longer needed to maintain troops in Saudi Arabia, where they were targeted by militant Islamist bombers. The presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia was the major source of irritation for Islamists like Osama bin Laden. The U.S. was able to withdraw its troops on its own terms instead of through the intimidation of Muslim militants, while taking away their chief excuse for opposing the U.S.

Fourth, the Iraqi people were liberated from one of the most brutal tyrants of his time. Liberated from oppression, Iraqis were free to determine their own destiny. They have chosen freedom and representative democracy for their republic, which provides a model for others in the Arab and Muslim world. Oppression is another one of the excuses that terrorists use in order to attempt to overthrow Muslim governments and replace them with more militant Islamist ones. Because of the Liberation of Iraq, freedom is now an acceptable alternative for Arabs and Muslims.

Fifth, the war in Iraq led to an additional victory in the War on Terrorism -- a military victory over al-Qaeda. As in Afghanistan, jihadis from around the Muslim world came to Iraq to fight the Coalition in the hope of defeating it and establishing an Islamist state there. Al-Qaeda was defeated military by the Coalition and the Iraqi government in part because the Iraqi people themselves rejected the foreign terrorists. As a battle in the War on Terrorism, the Liberation of Iraq represents a strategic defeat for al-Qaeda, which has diminished its credibility as a military force.

We should be grateful to the American troops who led the Liberation of Iraq. They have accomplished much in the fight for freedom and against terrorism and militant Islam.