Withdrawing from Iraq now would usher in a new dark period in the U.S., one in which the nation makes clear it is unwilling to confront emerging threats. Leaving Iraq in chaos would leave the U.S. a hobbled nation that would be unable or unwilling to protect its own national security interests. Foreign policies are built as much on the psychological makeup of a nation as they are on its economic and military prowess. If the U.S. turns tail rather than confronting jihadism and the insurgency in Iraq, would it somehow muster the strength to confront the serious threats posed by a nuclear armed Iran or a missile touting North Korea? ~Brendan Miniter

Of course Mr. Miniter is, as usual, mistaken.  Withdrawing from Iraq will not signal an era of being unwilling to confront emerging threats, but a refusal to fight chimerical, invented or otherwise exaggerated threats in a reckless, self-destructive manner.  It will be a recognition that some threats are containable, others are not our business, and still others must be defended against with something other than the use of blunt force.  It will not be the ’70s all over again, not least because almost all of the conditions of those years do not now exist.  It will not detract from the American public’s willingness to use force when necessary, but it will make the American people much more cautious and skeptical in accepting the pie-in-the-sky fantasies of the incompetent and the ideological among us.  For America, these are “the Dark Years,” and it is Mr. Miniter and his coterie who would like to keep us enshrouded in the darkness of war perpetually.  The damage that the War Party has done to the country will take time to repair, and withdrawing from Iraq is by no means a panacea for the real threats that do exist, but it is always necessary to stop the bleeding before more thorough treatment is possible.