Section[ PART I - Strategic Overview
Title[ THE CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE
THE CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE
-- If we and our Iraqi partners fail in Iraq, Iraq will become:
- A safe haven for terrorists as Afghanistan once was, only this time in some of the world's
most strategic territory, with vast natural resources to exploit and to use to fund future attacks.
- A country where oppression - and the brutal imposition of inhumane practices, such as those
of the Taliban in Afghanistan - is pervasive.
- A failed state and source of instability for the entire Middle East, with all the attendant risks
and incalculable costs for American security and prosperity.
-- Furthermore, if we and our Iraqi partners fail in Iraq, the terrorists will have:
- Won a decisive victory over the United States, vindicating their tactics of beheadings, suicide
bombings, and ruthless intimidation of civilians, inviting more deadly attacks against
Americans and other free people across the globe.
- Placed the American people in greater danger by destabilizing a vital region, weakening our
friends, and clearing the way for terrorist attacks here at home. The terrorists will be
emboldened in their belief that America cannot stand and fight, but will cut and run in the
face of adversity.
5
- Called into question American credibility and commitment in the region and the world. Our
friends and foes alike would doubt our staying power, and this would damage our efforts to
counter other security threats and to advance other economic and political interests worldwide.
> Since 1>>8, Al Qaida has repeatedly cited Vietnam, Beirut, and Somalia, as examples to
encourage more attacks against America and our interests overseas.
- Weakened the growing democratic impulses in the region. Middle East reformers would
never again fully trust American assurances of support for democracy and pluralism in the
region - a historic opportunity, central to America's long-term security, forever lost.
If we retreat from Iraq, the terrorists will pursue us and our allies, expanding
the fight to the rest of the region and to our own shores.
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