What would happen in Iraq if the U.S. left today? Mostly good or mostly bad?
398837
Short period of celebration by some and panic in others.\n\nCivil war would follow weeks behind probably leaving a failed state that would eventually fall to a group supported by Iran.  It is unlikely that the country would formally fractionalise into separate countries.  I honestly think the West will have to stay now (regardless of why they went in) to stabilise the Country allowing the elected Government to get strong enough to deal with the back-lash following a pull out.\n\nThe genie is out of the bottle ... no amount of wishing will put it back in.
1015090
well iraq will no way be better if the american troops were to pull out of it.\nit will plunge the country into a civil war with the radical factions assissted bu the neighbouring countries trying to take control of the secular govt installed in there.\nmoreover terrorist organisation would find it a very favourable destination to base their activities in the absence of a real and effective law enforcement agencies
248231
The majority of Americans were against it, therefore it would've been a very unpopular war, look at what's happening today in Iraq.  Americans were 'isolationist' in their thinking before Pearl Harbor.
695360
We started this, we have to bring it to an end. After we leave, then whatever happens... happens. The US achieved the vacuum of power that would now exist if we were to cut and run. Things are bad there now, but they are nothing like what would happen were we to immediately remove our troops. Forget the fighters......... every man with his heart must remember all the innocent victims that would loose their life without our presence there.
742737
If the coalition forces pulled out of Iraq:\n1. Civil wars would get a lot worse. Thousands more would die needlessly. Look at how many civilians are being killed now and that's with coalition forces there. Imagine if the death squads were completely unchecked.\n2. Iraq would divide into two or three smaller country's\n3. Those smaller countries would be weak and would be attacked by other countries in the area. Turkey has already stated that it will not have a Kurdish nation on its border. Iraq attacked and killed thousands of Iran's civilians and soldiers during the Iraq-Iran war. Iran could easily attack and win a war against a weak Iraqi state.\n4. Coalition forces or some forces would end up having to go back and stop the civil wars or stop some other countries aggression.
945421
The USA cared about the people of Iraq and got rid of their dictator.  Look where it got us as far as international opinion is concerned.
861674
Why worry?  No matter when we pull out Iraq will collapse into a civil war.  That is the trend when countrys invade other countrys to "rebuild" them.  So we are the bad guy no matter what.\n\nBecause we are there, terrorists exist in Iraq.  So now that they have settled in Iraq will always be a mess.
1152639
Yeah! There are people like me out there! I agree 100%. People are forgetting that Iraq wasn't exactly the peaceful little place people thought it was before we got there. If we leave now, a huge civil war will erupt between all these different muslim groups to try to control power.
215449
We withdrew about 15,000 troops that we had sent in for extra security for the December 15, 2005 Iraqi election.  Osama bin Laden second in command releases a tape stating that we were withdrawing our troops because we know we lost the war in Iraq.  The insurgents are terrorists being backed by bin Laden and his followers.  It is their attempt to make the country fall into Civil War thus making us look badly to their people.  If we leave there will definitely be a Civil War at once without our security to keep the different factions apart until the Iraqi government becomes strong enough to control these matters themselves.  Either way it looks as though we are there for a lot longer than we want to be.  It is better for us to remain there a little longer and lose credibility because of it than to withdraw all our troops and have the whole Middle East fall into chaos and lose credibility because of that.  Whatever we do in the position we are in is not going to please all the people.  We are better off keeping the terrorist's in a part of the world where our military can fight them than to be fighting them in our streets.
667910
If we really withdrew from Iraq, their current government would collapse and the insurgents along with their various backers would turn Iraq into one awful place.Let's forget about the oil and WMDS. Iraq albeit with Saddam Hussein at the helm boasted a Philamarnic orchestra, a very modern musuem; women were not always treated as second class citizens(They don't sit in the back seat of car behind their husbands like in Kuwait)was still a stable country.\nWhen I was there, most Iraqis were glad that we helped them remove Saddam and wanted a country where they could semblance of order, freedom to practise whatever variation of Islam they wanted, not having the Secret Police snatch their young daughters from off the street for sexual torture by Saddam's sons,etc.The Wahabbi sect of Islam in Saudi and various other entities in Iran, Syria and Chechnia don't want a stablized Iraq for they thrive on the violence there.We withdraw, it would be a slap in the face to my platoon members and the 2,000 plus service members,our Allies and the Iraqi soldiers and civilians who died trying to make Iraq a better place.This is a war and most Americans are gutless when it  comes to waging war whole heartedly. They want wars, sanitized with minmum loss and shove our Soldiers,Marines, Airmen, Sailors and Coast Guardsmen back into some dark corner. This isna war that will never go away and leaving Iraq won't make that happen.\nIt's very easy to get an airline ticket and fly here to the US despite what Homeland Security keeps saying how secure we are and conduct terrorist missions in the US.\nI say we stay and tough it out till its over.
890379
Iraq was not like it is now when Saddam was in power. Saddam was a threat to his own people, and those around him, period. World threat? Threat to America? Not by any thinking person's stretch of the imagination. We had to retaliate for 9/11 and a group of brilliant people decided Iraq was the path of least resistance after we topple their tyrant to install a democracy. Wishful thinking at its best, we are starting to see the worst. Things have degraded to their tribal levels split along religious sects. We invaded without understanding the culture and history of the region. Hatred and war are long time bed-partners in the middle-east. Just to keep the excitement growing we can now add extremely twisted, hate filled, religious fundamentalist zealots adding to the killing in the name of Allah.  Baghdad is eerily starting to look like Saigon. We won't need a strategy to get out, we'll need emergency evacuation.
628138
Yes, knowing what we know now, this wasn't the solution.\nMuch more could have been achieved with less loss of lives and resources.\nThe real problem with Iraq is yet to emerge. This country is in complete disarray, there is nothing left. the moment the Americans leave, a civil war will break out, because there is no dominating or controlling force. In a normal revolution there is an organization, a plan, a people movement. Ideals, a bigger picture. But here?\nA better way would have been to work from the inside,to start up a movement, to feed them money, structure. To let that movement gain momentum, and so on. In the case of Iraq, maybe try to split up the country?
1063744
The "poll" most often cited around here is that 80% would like to see us leave Iraq (iraqi citizens).  Mind you that poll was asked in a way to generate that answer.  I would like to know more about the poll saying 80% of the country are optimistic, but it doesn't suprise me as 75% of the country is living in relative peace...the problems are in a few areas.
830365
When we pulled out  last time, we left a functioning government intact.  In this instance, we would be leaving a power vacuum that Iran could fill with their own brand of Muslim extremism.\n\nWe'll stick around for another 6 months and begin to draw down gradually while giving the Iraqi security forces achievable, but hard benchmarks.  We'll do the best we can to support them, but the relationship will look more like S. Korea than Puerto Rico.
983745
At this point, just leaving Iraq right now with the situation it's in is a recipe for disaster. If you think it's bad now, just imagine what it'll be like without us. On the other hand, it's more of a catch-22 than anything. If we keep staying in Iraq, insurgents will keep killing soldiers. If we leave, however, everything we've done will be for nothing. The closest thing we can do that would be considered winning in my opinion is to have a functioning government, an army that can hold it's own, and basically get Iraq back on it's feet. After that, then we should leave. If there is *no* way we can win the war without anything like divine intervention, then we might as well leave.
444455
you can't just invade a country, blow up their infrastructure, destroy their government and military, and then leave when the situation gets too sticky. the US should have seen this coming from a mile away, and should never have invaded in the first place, but now that they have, they need to deal with the problem rather than turning tail and running. unfortunately, as always, it's the poor - the american soldiers and the iraqi civilians - who are paying the price, while those responsible for this mess are unscathed, and most are profiting from it. \n\nthere's just no easy answer to this one, and, though i hate to see more soldiers die for this, i think leaving now will only make the situation worse, and moreover would be the least moral thing to do to a country that the US is now responsible for. abandonment is not the answer. \n\nimpeaching bush would be a good start, though.
1059070
The U.S. is sort of in a bind in that it can't really win (the way we originally thought a win should look like) and we can't really leave (and have it look like we made mistake), so instead we'll phase out our troop levels over a period of years (10?) and continue to reassure the public that the Iraq government is able to handle things themselves and we're no longer needed, and it's anyone's guess how we'll explain the ongoing vioence.  How sad though for the families of fallen soldiers who may not see the ultimate worth in their sacrifices.