Out of Iraq: A Practical Plan for Withdrawal Now (Paperback)

~ (Author), William R. Polk (Author)
Key Phrases: United States, President Bush, Get Out of Iraq (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Despite the neoconservative mantra that a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq now would be a cut-and-run move that would encourage our enemies, McGovern, Democratic icon, and Polk, former professor and presidential advisor during the Cuban missile crisis, argue that immediate withdrawal is the sensible thing to do. Calling the war "a terrible and useless waste," they maintain that it is bankrupting the U.S. economy, increasing the threat of terrorist attacks on the U.S., and continuing to cost lives as U.S. soldiers return with life-altering and -threatening injuries and maladies. After offering a historical overview of the Middle East and other failed attempts by the British to graft a Western-style democracy in Iraq, McGovern and Polk offer a proposal for a phased withdrawal beginning in December 2006 to be completed by June 2007. The plan includes a two-year commitment to help Iraq rebuild and recover, training of an Iraqi national police force, and construction of a U.S. embassy outside the Green Zone to begin normalizing relations with Iraq. Vanessa Bush
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Product Description

Former senator George McGovern and William R. Polk, a leading authority on the Middle East, offer a detailed plan for a speedy troop withdrawal from Iraq.

During the phased withdrawal, to begin on December 31, 2006, and to be completed by June 30, 2007, they recommend that the Iraq government engage the temporary services of an international stabilization force to police the country. Other elements in the withdrawal plan include an independent accounting of American expenditures of Iraqi funds, reparations to Iraqi civilians for lives lost and property destroyed, immediate release of all prisoners of war, the closing of American detention centers, and offering to void all contracts for petroleum exploration, development, and marketing made during the American occupation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (October 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416534563
• ISBN-13: 978-1416534563
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #644,255 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book on Iraq Yet, October 11, 2006

By	Johnny Domino "a regular guy" (Needles, California) - See all my reviews

.

There is a lot of bluster from both sides of the bench (and Atlantic) regarding Iraq, but Mr. McGovern's book is the only one that concisely and carefully analyses the history of Iraq, our attack on the sovereign nation and why it was illegal under international law, and, most important - why and HOW we should leave Iraq with dignity.

It is for this last reason that I recommend this book so strongly. It's easy to dissect the mess we created in Iraq and to blame fingers at our American leaders and public for their bloodlust, disregard for brown people's lives, and greed for oil, but it's hard to come up with a feasible exit strategy.

Everything went wrong in Iraq and we know it's our fault; we can't make it like new but we can leave with some shred of honour for ourselves and the Iraqis (those who survive the bloodbath we've rained on them).

A concise book and a well-written one. Five stars out of five.

.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Go Home" Option for Iraq, January 12, 2007

By	Robert V. Keeley - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As I write this review shortly after the midterm elections, parties on all sides of the Iraq War are awaiting with great anticipation the report of the Baker Hamilton "Iraq Study Group." Whatever that effort produces, an exit strategy is already available in this short, aptly titled book by two well known experts on the Middle East.

After he retired from politics, Senator George McGovern resumed his prior profession of teaching history and headed the Middle East Policy Council in Washington for six years. William R. Polk taught Middle East history and politics at Harvard and Chicago, published many books on the region, and has closely studied Iraq since he first visited Baghdad in 1947. In 2005 he published Understanding Iraq, a highly readable 213 page history.

The two authors have collaborated on a book that recaps what Iraq is and who the Iraqis are, analyzes the effects of the invasion and occupation on Iraq and on America, and then lays out in a single chapter a 24 point exit strategy, followed by a brief warning about the dire consequences
of our not making a reasonably rapid exit. They foresee a phased withdrawal of all foreign military troops by June 30, 2007, including the 25,000 mercenaries euphemistically called "Personal Security Details" provided by 50 foreign firms. They put their plan's cost at about $14 billion -- a true bargain considering projections that another two years of the occupation would cost at least $350 billion. They insist that the plan must be implemented as a coordinated whole.

To facilitate the transition, McGovern and Polk urge the Iraqi government to request the short-term services of an international force to help police the country during and after our withdrawal, perhaps remaining for as much as two years. This force should be drawn from Arab and/or other
Muslim countries, whose personnel would be much better equipped with an understanding of the culture, religion, language and traditions of the Iraqi populace to carry out police work.

There is not space here to describe the plan's other 22 points in detail, but a good many are worthy of mention. For instance, the authors view the training of a permanent Iraqi national police force as essential, but oppose recreation of a national army, which in the past has been more disruptive than helpful. They also call for Washington to release all prisoners of war and to close our detention centers as soon as possible. To counter the impression that we plan to stay in Iraq long-term we must cease construction of some 14 "enduring" American military bases now under way (five of which are as large as cities). For similar reasons, we should vacate the Green Zone by the end of 2007.

The authors also urge the U.S. to fund a project to hire and train Iraqis to find and destroy mines, unexploded ordnance and depleted uranium; pay reparations for loss of lives and property; and allow Iraq to renegotiate oil contracts entered into during the occupation. Finally, though it may be hard for us to do it, America should express its condolences for the large number of Iraqis killed, incapacitated, incarcerated and tortured. This cost free gesture would help greatly to restore our reputation in Iraq, the region, and the world.

McGovern and Polk close by calling on all Americans to acknowledge the debt we owe to the men and women who served in Iraq, and to treat them as well as were the returning veterans from World War II: "Now is the time for healing the wounds of war and trying to understand its lessons. The veterans of the war in Iraq especially need and deserve a comprehensive rehabilitation -- physically, mentally, educationally and economically, including the highly successful offerings of the World War II G.I. Bill of Rights."

This brief book provides a reasonable, workable and inexpensive road map for extricating ourselves from the Iraq quagmire. It should be essential reading not only for all decision makers and their advisers in Washington, but all Americans.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reasoned discussion of Iraq, November 30, 2006

By	Patricia Kramer (Madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

George McGovern and William Polk obviously believe that plans of action should
be based on fact. They, therefore,begin the book with a background summary
of how the U.S. got into the war and a discussion about Iraq and its people.
They then provide a "damage report" in lives lost and forever changed -"on
Americans, on Iraqis,and on the U.S. position in world affairs". It is a
good presentation of the history and current situation.

The meat of the book is a detailed description of a balanced program for
getting out: along with a cost analysis for each suggestion compared to
the current cost of the war. Those cost comparisons should be remembered
when the cry goes out that we can't afford to pay for helping to repair
the mess we've made while we quietly let the money flow through our
fingers every day we are there now.