Iraq: should we stay or should we go? It may be time for the U.S. to cut its losses in the Middle East by accelerating the process of American troop withdrawal by a soveriegn interim Iraqi government.

• Author: Moosa, Ebrahim
• Position: Worlview

CAB DRIVERS all over the world often tell the truth in an unvarnished manner. A few weeks ago, an 84-year-old African-American cabbie and World War II veteran in Houston, Tex., told me: "George Bush loses if he stays in Iraq, and he loses if he withdraws." Whatever way you look at the Iraq imbroglio, the Houston cab driver is right: only one option stares the U.S. in the face--defeat. What remains unanswerable at this stage is whether it will be a moral, political, or military setback--or perhaps some combination of all three. What policymakers and the citizenry ought to think about is: How many face-saving devices does the U.S. still have available and how many can it afford to squander? Much spin and mythmaking accompanied the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now, however, the American public should be prepared for Operation Exit. Moreover, it needs to happen soon, before that "respectable" option vanishes. The net outcome of a preemptive military policy is that America now is a prisoner of its own overreach.

Not only has this policy outraged the world community, the U.S. stands almost totally isolated. Besides Great Britain, only small Spanish, Italian, and Polish deployments are at its side. In the lose-lose scenario that Iraq promises, the entire region has become volatile. Slowly, the strongest Middle Eastern states are being weakened. Turkey and Saudi Arabia have become the staging grounds for what may well be early portents for an elaborate theater of political violence. Previously, regional anti-U.S. military resistance was sporadic. At present, opposition to imperialism on a regional basis is militarized and no longer confined to Afghanistan and Iraq. Whether Al Qaeda or its sympathizers are responsible for these attacks, it seems clear that anti-American forces have the capacity and sophistication to hit a number of targets in the region almost at will.

Within months, Iraqi resistance has mutated into militarized anti-imperialist forces. Despite official denunciations and sound-bite condemnations, the average Middle Eastern man in the street is not complaining. Even though the poor are the most vulnerable victims of insurrectionary violence, people in the region have a good idea of politics, far better than the sensibility of ordinary Americans.

Within the year, it is likely that Paul Bremer may well be removed as presidential envoy in Iraq. He either will resign or be replaced by another official, or by an Iraqi equivalent of...