Letter: U.S. policy in Iraq resembles imperialism

Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005 | 8:37 a.m.

If we are truly interested in democracy, the United States should withdraw its troops from Iraq in 2006 and return economic sovereignty to the Iraqi people. Only American corporations are benefiting from the privatization of Iraq's resources at the expense of the Iraqi people and the American taxpayers.

Now that we have had 2,000 American deaths and over 100,000 Iraqi deaths to "bring democracy to Iraq," and now that the new Iraq constitution will soon bring elected officials to power in their country, it's time to listen to the will of the people.

American politicians and pundits say our troops have to stay in Iraq to maintain stability, but only 6 percent of Iraqis agree with that. In a Coalition Provisional Authority poll (conducted in 2004), almost 90 percent said American troops should leave at least by the time they have an elected government. A New York Times/CBS poll shows that a majority of Americans agree we should leave, even if there is no stability.

The fact is that our troops are the cause of much of the unrest, as 90 percent of all Iraqis see the United States as "occupiers" and not as their rescuers. Withdrawal of our troops can be done in an orderly manner, and the results would be more constructive than leaving them there, but no one in our government is even talking about a plan to exit Iraq.

That might lead one to believe that our country is more interested in imperial conquest than it is in democracy. Is that the noble purpose for which our sons and daughters have died?

Jerry Bitts

Las Vegas