Menu

Argument: If coalition forces withdraw too early, Iraq will likely fall into civil war

Issue Report: Withdrawing from Iraq

Supporting Evidence

  • Opposition to Iraq war is divided after 5 years, by Susan Page, USA TODAY “Support for setting a timetable for withdrawal hasn’t wavered even as attitudes toward last year’s increase in U.S. force levels improve: Four in 10 now say it has made the situation in Iraq better, a more positive reading than last summer and early fall. And most Americans support a pull-out plan even though they also predict damaging repercussions as a result.By wide margins, those surveyed said that pulling out U.S. troops would make it more likely that a broader war in the Middle East erupts, more likely that Iraqis will die from violence and more likely that al-Qaeda will use Iraq as a base for terror operations.They were evenly split over whether staying or going makes it more likely that the United States would be attacked by terrorists. “I think we keep forgetting that the war is going to come to us,” says Rafael Castro, 45, the facilities director at a Wilmington community center. “And I don’t think that America’s prepared for that — the terrorism, the way it’s growing.” Castro and others worry, too, about the impact the war has had in the United States, especially for the troops who have served there.”