Read (Ret.) Lt. Gen. Odom's article: "Cut and Run? You Bet."

[npincus]

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3430

in the May/June 2006 online edition of Foreign Policy magazine. He presents his summary here of why America must withdraw from Iraq NOW.

You may know that Odom was one of the first of the retired generals to speak out against the war, the administration and the notion of a 'war on terror'. I saw him months ago on "Hardball" and he was GREAT. AND... you can watch him TONIGHT on "Hardball"- Tweety announced he'll be appearing with another retired general (sorry, don't remember the name).

http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/Pictures/Persons/009080/009080-173828-04.jpg


Why America must get out of Iraq now

Withdraw immediately or stay the present course? That is the key question about the war in Iraq today. American public opinion is now decidedly against the war. From liberal New England, where citizens pass town-hall resolutions calling for withdrawal, to the conservative South and West, where more than half of “red state” citizens oppose the war, Americans want out. That sentiment is understandable.

The prewar dream of a liberal Iraqi democracy friendly to the United States is no longer credible. No Iraqi leader with enough power and legitimacy to control the country will be pro-American. Still, U.S. President George W. Bush says the United States must stay the course. Why? Let’s consider his administration’s most popular arguments for not leaving Iraq.

If we leave, there will be a civil war. In reality, a civil war in Iraq began just weeks after U.S. forces toppled Saddam. Any close observer could see that then; today, only the blind deny it. Even President Bush, who is normally impervious to uncomfortable facts, recently admitted that Iraq has peered into the abyss of civil war. He ought to look a little closer. Iraqis are fighting Iraqis. Insurgents have killed far more Iraqis than Americans. That’s civil war.

Withdrawal will encourage the terrorists. True, but that is the price we are doomed to pay. Our continued occupation of Iraq also encourages the killers—precisely because our invasion made Iraq safe for them. Our occupation also left the surviving Baathists with one choice: Surrender, or ally with al Qaeda. They chose the latter. Staying the course will not change this fact. Pulling out will most likely result in Sunni groups’ turning against al Qaeda and its sympathizers, driving them out of Iraq entirely.

more....


Lt. Gen WIlliam E. Odom Bio: http://www.eisenhowerinstitute.org/programs/globalpartnerships/missiledefense/Odom.htm

Lieutenant General William E. Odom, U.S. Army (Ret.), is a senior fellow and director of National Security Studies at Hudson Institute's Washington, D.C. office. He is also an adjunct professor at Yale University. As director of the National Security Agency from 1985 to 1988, he was responsible for the nation's signals intelligence and communications security. From 1981 to 1985, he served as assistant chief of staff for Intelligence, the Army's senior intelligence officer.

From 1977 to 1981, General Odom was military assistant to the President's Assistant for National Security Affairs, Zbigniew Brzezinski. On the National Security Council staff, he worked on strategic planning, Soviet affairs, nuclear weapons policy, telecommunications policy, and Persian Gulf security issues. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1954, and received a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1970.