Even tenuous deal on pullout is worth being thankful for

This editorial appears in the Yakima Herald-Republic on Dec. 2, 2008

Is it the beginning of the end for U.S. troop presence in Iraq? We'll see, but for now color us skeptical since we've seen other target dates for the Iraqi government assuming more control of its own security come and go in the past.

This time it's an even more sweeping proposal that requires all U.S. troops to be out of that country in three years. We especially note the day it was approved -- Thanksgiving Day -- since the eventual, targeted exit of our troops would be something for which to be most thankful.

U.S. forces will withdraw from Iraqi towns and cities by June 30, 2009 and the entire country by Jan. 1, 2012.

This would be the first clear-cut timetable for actual troop withdrawals since the war began in 2003 with a U.S. invasion ostensibly geared to finding weapons of mass destruction and ousting Saddam Hussein as leader of Iraq. The former were never found and the latter was toppled and ultimately hanged for crimes against his own people.

But an unpopular war with seemingly no end in sight has dragged on, claiming the lives of more than 4,200 U.S. military men and women and scores of Iraqi civilians. It has been a tremendous drain on the U.S. treasury, costing billions per month and making it a significant factor in the economic tailspin the nation now finds itself dealing with.

As always with deals in Iraq, though, there's a wrinkle. In the dealmaking that preceded the vote, Iraq's ruling Shiite bloc agreed to a Sunni demand that the pact be put to a referendum by July 30, 2009, which some analysts say could mean a rejection of the pact if anti-U.S. anger builds and demands for an immediate withdrawal grow. But U.S. troops are scheduled to be out of urban areas and will be much less visible.

An aside: After all these years of battling terrorists and insurgents on Iraqi soil, one might wonder if a little more appreciation in that country for America's sacrifice might be in order.

Still, the pact is a good step forward and a realization that Iraq must ultimately assume responsibility for its own destiny. The American people were told that the whole idea when the war began was to stay there until Iraq could form its own government and handle its own security. It was not that U.S. troops serve as an army of occupation.

We've been there five years, with another three years looming, and it's long past time for the exit strategy that should have been in place in the first place. Let this new withdrawal deadline be a major step in that direction.

And even as we breathe a sigh of relief over the prospects of withdrawal of troops from Iraq, it is with the nagging uncertainty that a renewed commitment in Afghanistan against al-Qaida and the elusive Osama bin Laden is part of a new strategy in conjunction with a diminishing presence in Iraq.

It was, after all, Afghanistan that the U.S. invaded in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, with the idea of topping the Taliban government known to harbor terrorists. That happened and the U.S. presence diminished as it increased in Iraq.

Even President-elect Barack Obama said during his presidential campaign that Afghanistan is where the U.S. should focus its attention and efforts.

Still, the withdrawal pact is a significant development. Even the Iraqi government appears to be realizing that the open-ended commitment of the Bush administration is near an end.

And for that we are thankful.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Sarah Jenkins, Bill Lee and Karen Troianello.

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