The President's Iraq plan....

[Max2147]

Originally Posted by August

In our two successful attempts at nation building Germany and Japan, what does the forum think might have happened if the Allies had pulled their troops out of those countries say by 1947?

If we had pulled out of those countries by 1947, we would have only been there for two years. That would be akin to pulling out of Iraq by 2005.

As it is, it looks like we'll be pulling out of Iraq a little over 7 years after we entered. The occupation of Japan also lasted 7 years.

The occupation of Germany might be a better comparison, since, like Iraq, the end of the occupation is debatable. Officially, the US occupation of Iraq ended when Bremer left in 2004, a little over a year after it started. The official occupation of Germany lasted 4 years until the GDR and the FRG were declared in 1949.

However, Iraq has arguably not been fully sovereign despite the official handover. If you argue that the US pullout will give Iraq full sovereignty, then full sovereignty for Iraq should come in 2010, over 7 years after Saddam's statue fell. To compare, the GDR and FRG were given full sovereignty in 1955, 10 years after WWII.

What does this say about the US presence in Iraq? Not sure. I'm just throwing some facts out there.