Ret. Army General William Odom: U.S. Should "Cut and Run" From Iraq AMY GOODMAN: Well, why don't you lay out your argument? A general calling for cutting and running?
LT. GEN. WILLIAM ODOM: Well, I'm trying to think like a strategist. And in war, as well as in politics and diplomacy, one has to know when to withdraw and when to attack. And this was a misguided attack, and it requires a strategic vision and moral confidence to turn it around, the earlier the better. But as the evidence piles up, I think my judgment is being borne out.
I said before the war in February that if we invade Iraq, this will serve primarily the interests of two people: Osama bin Laden, because it will make Iraq safe for al Qaeda, and it will allow him to have access to kill Americans, which he cannot do in the U.S. very effectively; the second party that would benefit greatly would be the Iranians. Saddam Hussein invaded Iran, and they fought for eight years, and Iranians hated that regime as much more than we did. Therefore it was very much in their interest, and it is clearer now that a Shiite majority will probably end up in control in Iraq, and it will not be pro-American, and it probably will be an Islamic religious republic.
So that's -- those kind of outcomes were foreseeable, and then I didn't say anything about it for a year, and pointed out that exactly these things were happening. And I was asked about in August why -- whether I thought that journalists were doing a good job in pressing this issue with the President. And the answers you’ve just read are the ones I gave.
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