How long should US troops stay in Iraq?
Really Unnecessary
“I think that the American soldiers in Iraq should have been home yesterday,” said Marcell Pickens, an engineer. “I have never supported the decision to go to Iraq and am convinced that President Bush used the 9-11 attacks as an excuse to go into Iraq for personal reasons that aren't disclosed to the American people. Of course all we can do is speculate, but these men and women are not over there defending their country's agenda: they are over there trying to survive another day. It's really unnecessary.” Interview by Shayna Lym
Remain as Long as It Takes, Or…
“I believe that United States should remain in Iraq for as long as it takes to clean up the hell hole that we started or if worse comes to worse cut our losses and pull out at an appropriate time,” said Daniel Palmieri, a sophomore at Union County College who is a fine arts major. Why? “Because a lot of time, money, and lives have been sacrificed and for what? We can’t just keep being the older brother in the situation; we have to let the Iraqis learn how to run their own country once again.” Interview by Chris Federici
Should Have Left a Long Time Ago
"I believe that the US troops should have left Iraq a long time ago because democracy has already been instilled in Iraq,” said Kelvin Palicas, a Rutgers-Newark student. “It is only creating more problems because many of the people do not wish for our troops to be there considering many soldiers have already been killed." Interview by YuJeong Na
Leave, Stay, Never Should Have Gone
"Leave now,” said Ata Hindi, a Rutgers-Newark student. “People in Iraq have found a common enemy in America."
"They should stay until it becomes clear that the country has gone into civil war,” said Tracy Young, an attorney.
"They shouldn't even have gone in the first place," said Julianna Eum, a paralegal. Interviews by Kathryn Hu
Should We Ever Have Gone There?
Metro: Do you think having our troops in Iraq is adding more fuel to the fire?
Jean Giamis: Well, I think probably another way of looking at it is, should we have ever gotten there to begin with? My primary answer to this question is "No, we should have never gone into Iraq." Now, however, we are in a "catch-22" situation were we cannot just pull out overnight. If we did, several things can happen. Given the fighting that is now going on the fields on part of the insurgents, we could wind up with more of a death toll for our own men and women, and there could be in fact more innocent Iraqis killed as a result of the insurgent rising up. Another problem is that we are responsible for helping the Iraqis fix up their info-structure that we had a hand in destroying. Such as: buildings of importance, hospitals of the nature and so on. So, while I certainly do not want to see our troops remain there, I also see that it is not an easy situation of just immediately pulling out.
Metro: The newspapers had stated that our main purpose for going into Iraq had been because of the so-called "Weapons of Mass Destruction." Do you believe this to be true, or better yet, do you think we had an underlying motive for going into Iraq?
Giamis: First of all I do not believe that there were W.O.M.D. I think that they would have been destroyed because Saddam Hussein was too crafty, to allow those things to be sitting around for us to be able to catch up with him and then do something. I believe that there is an ulterior motive, but I am not at liberty to state what that is.
Metro: The newspapers have also stated that the Sunni and Shiites are on the brink of a "civil war." What do you think the outcome will be, if we see a civil war erupt?
Giamis: That there will see a "second Vietnamese conflict", and that this will be something that will become a blood bath over a period of time. Out military will be stuck in the middle of that quagmire, and again looking at our troops and looking at the innocent civilians on the ground, we will be leaving the county of Iraq with more blood letting. But yes, I do see very strongly that there is going to be a civil war, if we are not now in the preliminary stages of that war already.
Metro: When do you believe our troops should leave?
Giamis: If it were possible to remove them within the next six months I would like to see that if it were possible. If that is too soon, than a year and nothing more than that.
Nicole Pfleger interviewed Jean Giamis, Coordinator for the Institute for Pre-College Education and Community Outreach and Part-time Lecturer in the History Department at Rutgers-Newark, for the Newark Metro.
We Can’t Just Pull Out Now
Mary Chadwick of the Office of Housing and Residence Life at Rutgers-Newark is upset at the fact that we’re even at war. She feels we shouldn’t have gone to war at all. “If it was Osama Bush was looking for, that’s what he should have went looking for only,” says Mrs. Chadwick. She feels bad for the young boys sent out there to lose their lives. “I wasn’t for the war, but we can’t just pull out now. But since were there we have to do something to help and resolve the issue,” says a frustrated Mrs. Chadwick “But were in it now, so what can we do now, but finish what Bush sent them there to do and support the troops.” Interview by Denise Pardo
As Long As it Takes
Metro: How long should U.S. troops stay in Iraq?
Jonni Ragsdale: I don't know. I think they should stay as long as it takes. Without risking
anything that is.
Metro: Why do you feel that way?
Ragsdale: If we just pull our troops out now, we'll all die. (She laughs)
Metro: What do you mean by that?
Ragsdale: Well, leaving Iraq now will be unsafe and unstable for both us and Iraqis.
Interview by Michele Ippolito for the Newark Metro.
Time to Leave
“Of course it is time for our troops to leave Iraq! What is the excuse now to be invading with our military force a country that we already destroyed,” said Cristina Deleon, a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology. “First, the excuse was Sadam Hussein, then ‘weapons of mass destruction,’ terrorism, oil---I cannot understand. Why are we still there? This war doesn't make any sense to me, and I am sure that many people feel the same." Interview by Gianna Nicasio
"I believe we should leave immediately in order to decrease tension in the Middle East,” said Orlando Falcon, Citigroup auditor. “I believe there is an undetected number of causalities and we need to pull our soldiers quickly. I feel that the amount of causalities is reason enough. There has not been any changing occurring in our time there. Interview by Jessica Alfonso
Immoral
“I don't believe our troops should be there because the war is immoral,” said Jason McGraw, history instructor at Rutgers-Newark. “There is no justification for it. It is not a good use for government and judicial resources. Instead the money should be spent on education and healthcare." Interview by Katrina Rowson
Almost Unanimous
Among people interviewed in Manhattan and Jersey City, it was nearly unanimous
not only that the troops should withdraw immediately, but that they never should have invaded Iraq..
"My country was invaded twice," said Virgilio Brens, a student from the
Dominican Republic. "We should have been gone already. I know the bad
things that happens when you invade a country. It's just wrong."
Eugene Livshen, a senior systems analyst from New York City, said, "I
think we should have left years ago. Even though Saddam was killing his
own people, he wasn't killing Americans. It isn't worth a single soul that
we've lost."
Vernina Calloway, a social worker from Jersey City, said: "My 15-year-old son helped put it in perspective for He said, 'I have no problem fighting for my country, but I need to know what I'm fighting for.'"
The sole voice in support of the war came from Simon Barolo, a
self-described 'shawrama guy' from Israel. He said, "All of the problems
come from Iraq. I don't know exactly what the problems are, but I see it
all the time on the TV." Interviews by Robin Wilson
Split Opinions
Reiko Takatsu, an architecture student at NJIT, said that although it is dangerous for American soldiers to go to Iraq, it is better for the U.S. military to finish what it started. She estimated that she thought 2 to 3 years should be long enough for U.S. troops to be in Iraq, but if that is not long enough to instill democracy, they should stay as long as needed to finish the job. "Think about the world," she said. "We have to get the world settled."
Kisun Rhee, also an architecture student at NJIT, felt differently. She thought that the decision for the amount of time U.S. troops should be in Iraq should be up to Iraq, and not the U.S. "We should be there as long as they want us," she said. "It's not our country, it's theirs." Interviews by Meghan Shapiro
Shayna Lym, Chris Federici, YuJeong Na, Kathryn Hu, Nicole Pfleger, Denise Pardo, Michele Ippolito, Gianna Nicasio, Jessica Alfonso, Robin Wilson, Meghan Shapiro and Katrina Rowson are students in Robert Snyder's "Urban Journalism" class. Posted March 2006.
