Question: What should the next US President do to get the military out of Iraq?
Howard Zinn: I think the next president should begin, announce the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. I think this will be a very healthy thing for Iraq.
The American occupation has not helped a thing. It has not stopped civil war; it has provoked civil war. It has not given the Iraqi people security or democracy; it has given them the opposite. It has ruined their country. And, of course, it has ruined our country, too.
The most important thing is for the Iraqis. I think the next president should announce the immediate withdrawal and he should call upon the international community--the UN [United Nations], the Arab States--to convene an international body to mediate in Iraq among the different groups, among the Shiites and the Sunnis and the Kurds, and try to work out--and this is what the United States should not do--try to work out a compromised solution for the conflicts among them. I say to not try to work out a compromised solution.
The United States moved in, shock and awe with enormous force, set the Shiites up in power, moved the Sunnis out and created the conditions for the present civil war. So getting out, trying to help with an international group, using our resources to give food and medicine and restore clean water and all the fundamental things that the Iraqis have been deprived of because of the war. In other words, we can begin to do constructive things, rather than continuing the destruction.
Recorded on: July 5, 2008
Discuss
Robert Austin on June 11, 2008, 8:07 AM
Why don%u2019t we allow the Iraqis to hold a nationwide referendum on whether or not the United States should promptly withdraw from Iraq? I have been wondering about this for some time. I have never seen this idea seriously proposed by anyone in our government, but it seems so obvious to me. The Bush administration touts that it has brought democracy to Iraq, and the world has seen elections successfully held in there. A referendum of the sort I propose is good for both the United States and Iraq. If the Iraqis vote %u201CYes, the United States should leave,%u201D the United States could then withdraw without losing face and without emboldening Al Qaeda, since our withdrawal would be implemented out of respect for the will of the Iraqi people, not be due to a loss of will on behalf of the United States. Alternatively, if the Iraqis say, %u201CNo, the United States should stay to help maintain stability,%u201D the United States can justify its continued presence in Iraq to itself and to the rest of the world. The United States would then be seen as a peace keeping nation rather than an occupying nation.
Tree Roland on June 11, 2008, 8:44 AM
I love Howard Zinn's proposal for getting out of Iraq — "Put the troops on trucks, and head for the border."
Robert Austin on June 11, 2008, 12:07 PM
Why don%u2019t we allow the Iraqis to hold a nationwide referendum on whether or not the United States should promptly withdraw from Iraq? I have been wondering about this for some time. I have never seen this idea seriously proposed by anyone in our government, but it seems so obvious to me. The Bush administration touts that it has brought democracy to Iraq, and the world has seen elections successfully held in there. A referendum of the sort I propose is good for both the United States and Iraq. If the Iraqis vote %u201CYes, the United States should leave,%u201D the United States could then withdraw without losing face and without emboldening Al Qaeda, since our withdrawal would be implemented out of respect for the will of the Iraqi people, not be due to a loss of will on behalf of the United States. Alternatively, if the Iraqis say, %u201CNo, the United States should stay to help maintain stability,%u201D the United States can justify its continued presence in Iraq to itself and to the rest of the world. The United States would then be seen as a peace keeping nation rather than an occupying nation.
Tree Roland on June 11, 2008, 12:44 PM
I love Howard Zinn’s proposal for getting out of Iraq — “Put the troops on trucks, and head for the border.”
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