Project
Overview
For over two decades and counting, our troops have been fighting and sacrificing in our nation’s endless wars in the Middle East and Africa.
These conflicts have cost America dearly – more than 4,500 American troops killed, and more than $2 trillion taxpayer dollars spent – and have not made us safer.
It’s past time to bring our men and women in uniform home and shape a better U.S. foreign policy.
The Problem
Conflicts like the war in Iraq and operations in Syria and Somalia have been strategic blunders from the beginning—Iraq especially was one of the worst foreign policy mistakes in American history. Based on the false belief that the Iraqi government had large stocks of weapons of mass destruction and that regime change in Baghdad would lead to more stability in the Middle East, the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein.
Pursuing regime change in 2003 was disastrous. The war and U.S. occupation unleashed sectarian violence and Islamic radicalism, strengthened neighboring Iran, and cost America thousands of lives and trillions of dollars.
Even after destroying ISIS’s territorial caliphate, the U.S. has left troops in Iraq and Syria, repeating the same mistake as in Afghanistan – keeping vulnerable boots on the ground that don’t need to be there.
Deploying troops to the Middle East to fight regional wars is not necessary to keep America safe. However, such deployments inadvertently embolden our enemies and offer much easier opportunities to harm American servicemembers.
The Cost
Our troops in the Middle East have no clearly achievable objectives, yet they are continually put in harm’s way. For those deployed:
We are continuing to put our troops’ lives on the line for efforts that are not necessary to keep our nation safe.
Americans here at home continue to suffer and sacrifice thanks to our prolonged entanglement in Iraq:
That cost is not worth it.
The Solution
The interests we do have in the Middle East – preventing disruptions to global energy supplies and combating terrorists with intent and capability to harm America – can be dealt with without a large-scale, permanent military presence.
We can best honor the sacrifices of Iraq War veterans and those who lost their lives by making realistic and prudent choices about the U.S. role in the Middle East.
