Pulling all Western forces out of the Middle East ?

[whiffey]

This fascinates me. Views run high, but if, if, USA and UK were to pull all armed forces out of Iraq, Afghanistan, what would be the outcome, the world situation a year from then ?

Is it something to be desired ? Should we just let them sort out their own lives and countries ?

Why are we even there at all, why not just spend the money on new hospitals at home...... and prisons..... and welfare benefits.....

[flubber]

Well they were no harm to us before Bush declared war and Blair followed his orders..........sure Saddam was (to us) an evil man who (as many have seen) tried out genocide on his own countrymen, but that may well have been quite permissable "out there"..... their laws of punishment are much harsher than ours and what we find disgusting they probably don't. Now the Iraqi war was, I personally think, one Americans greed and lust for oil - had Saddam remained in [pwer then the world would have been a few barrels better off - certainly Iraq would not be plunged into a war with its own countrymen or one that is taking lives of imported armed services.

Look how Iraq has degenerated since the war. If we were out of the country and they had a few years to rebuild by sorting out their own lives then I am sure we would have a good ally.

Yes I agree our money as taxpayers should be spent here first. I think it normally would be but right now we have a PM who is so anxious to please an American president that he will do anything that he is told to do.

[whiffey]

zoro, new batteries, purlease !!

Try to address the question, not the questioner, there's a good girl.

lol :)

[kwicky]

The last time we pulled out of a country in defeat was Suez. This was Anthony Eden's legacy. To do so in Iraq will be Blair's legacy for decades to come. He will instead leave the garbage for Gordon Brown to sort out the mess.

[Doggy2]

The day UK and US especially stop interfereing with other countries will see the day that there will be less hostility from other countries. But then again when there's an unresolved issue encapsulated in three letters "OIL" and how best we can get hold of it it is hard to see how US and UK would take a different approach in their foreign policy.

The fact is the likes of Tony Blair and George Bush will serve their period as prime minister and president but still many questions remains unanswered regarding their real motives of invasion.

Afterall Iraq was a lot weaker country before the invasion than the in 80's when US armed the country to the teeth with chemical weapons that were used against Iranians and their own kurdish people. Anybody blamed iraqis for using those weapons then? Nope. So to answer your question we should not have got involved there in the first place let alone let them sort out their own mess.

[Carakeel]

I have to agree with those who feel we should never have gone into these countries in the first place. I think the US and Europe should instead have pushed the Arab nations towards cleaning up the issues in these countries themselves. They understand the Arab mentality, they understand the people far more than we ever will. The Arab nations would have not lost face in the eyes of these countries but would have had their respect and their ear, unlike the US and UK. So what now? Do we continue to sacrifice our young men for a fight that isn't ours and that has only further damaged our countries? Bring them home!

[jno]

I'm not so sure other Arab nations could have done much. Many of their own governments are authoritarian and deeply unpopular with their own people - remember, most of the original al-Qaeda were Saudi dissidents, so they wouldn't be inclined to listen to the Saudi government.

America got involved in Afghanistan because it wanted to arm people fighting against the old Soviet Union. It used to be claimed they actually armed and trained Omar bin Laden, but I think that's been disproved; nonetheless they poured a lot of munitions into the region that is now being shot back at them. And they armed Iraq too because they were annoyed at Iran.

So I think they're in too deep in both countries to get out: not only would they lose face, they'd leave behind a hugely unstable region which threatens the biggest US ally, Israel, and which contains much of the world's oil. Try to imagine petrol prices doubling or worse...

[jake-the-peg]

I think we should pull out of Iraq and put the troops in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan was a massive threat to world stability and Iraq was a US adventure that we stupidly allowed ourselevs to get roped into.

Let the Americans sort their own mess out in Iraq and give the troops in Afghanistan the manpower they need to do the job properly.

I am fully aware that US/UK politics would make this nigh on impossible to achieve whilst the current incumbants are sitting in the Whitehouse and number 10

[anotheoldgit]

We just can't keep our nose's out. I heard yesterday that there is a problem with unexploded phosforous bombs in Lebenham, so the British are leading a team out there to sort the problem out.

[maxximus]

almost unbelievable https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmaQ6Onkeqs&mod e=related&search=

[dyli795]

Unles you can find a way of building a wall 'round the whole thing to contain it in its own stupidity, we are faced with the fact that we all inhabit the same mudball within a bubble. I just can not find the time for people who chirrup, "Oh. is it fair? Is it right? wait a minute, isn't that against the Geneva convention?" LOAD OF BX! Anyone , anywhere, anytime, wishing to do me or my fellow countrymen harm is fair game for catching one big lump of hot lead. If you don't like it consider expanding your hobbies or something. Go in peace.

Yes, ultimately, the money is better used for public services on our cushy little island (Hey, it's not not your fault you were born here!) Get out and vote.

[dyli795]

Or maybe you weren't born here, in which case, go home and sort it out. Let us know when you've done it. Would be ever so nice.

[whiffey]

dyli - actually I agree with you. I was born here, I have voted here, and best of all my support and sympathies lie with the leaders of the Western powers who do their darndest to maintain my freedom to sit in my armchair with as little fear as possible.

The Middle East has only one solution - the complete extermination of the state of Israel and all Jews, and after that the Islamisation of the whole infidel world (UK included of course).

If we all pulled out, does anybody think they'd say, "Ah, they're gone now, let's all calm down and till the fields. No more terrorism. Live and let live." ? Dream on !

In Iraq now it is Islamic factions fighting each other (and of course any Americans/Brits they can kill on the way, preferably by slow beheading with a knife)

The Middle East is potentially a greater threat to Western life than anything we have ever seen.

[kwicky]

Sometimes I have a dream. That everyone returns to their country of origin. That no one lectures any other country on how to run its own affairs. That talk of freedom only applies to country they reside in. That no nuclear weapons exist to threaten others. That any important decisions are made by consenus and not by dictatorship. But all this is common sense and we are all ruled by unstable egotistical individuals.