Should the U.S. withdraw from Iraq?

Posted By Blake Hounshell Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - 8:37 PM Share

The argument over the Iraq war just got a little nastier today, with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Vice President Dick Cheney getting into a war of their own—this one a war of snarls and sound bites. And the stakes could not be much higher: at issue is whether the United States should set a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. Democrats in Congress say yes; the Bush administration says no. Thousands of lives and billions of dollars hang on how this drama plays out.


Mark Wilson/Getty Images News

Enter Peter R. Neumann, who as a director of the Centre for Defence Studies at King’s College London can hardly be said to be a partisan gunslinger. Neumann is an expert on terrorism and strategic thinking, so we asked him what he thought would likely happen if the United States announced a timetable for withdrawal. His answer was sobering. I urge you to check it out, whether you favor continued U.S. involvement in Iraq or not, and make up your own minds.

EXPLORE:MIDDLE EAST, BUSH ADMINISTRATION, IRAQ, U.S. CONGRESS, U.S. FOREIGN POLICY

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