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Barry Posen. “The risks of staying vs. leaving Iraq”. Boston Globe. April 19th, 2007 – ‘Supporters of the war predict six major disasters if US forces withdraw:
- Al Qaeda will take over the country. This risk is now non existent. Al Qaeda’s support is strongest among Sunnis, whom the Shia outnumber by three to one. The Shia control the military, the police, and numerous militias. The United States has ramped up its operations in Baghdad in part to stop the Shia from cleansing the Sunnis from Baghdad. There will be no caliphate in Baghdad, whether Americans stay or leave.
- Iraq will become a new Afghanistan, to Al Qaeda’s benefit. The most extreme among the Sunni insurgents may indeed be committed to international jihad, and they may continue to work clandestinely out of Iraq, as they do today. But these jihadis will not be comfortable. Iraqi Shi’ites despise them, and even many Sunnis oppose them. US intelligence will indeed have to keep an eye on them, and special operations forces may occasionally need to sneak back into Iraq to strike at them. These are capabilities the United States has spent billions building up since Sept. 11.”
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