What is it that prompted our president to come out and boldly proclaim the complete withdrawal of troops from Iraq? Perhaps the downfall of Moammar Gadhafi?
Sending troops to war is costly, dangerous, and has become politically unpopular.
We are living in the new age of the smartphone and social media. What took almost 10 years and billions of dollars to accomplish in Iraq has been done in Egypt and Libya in a matter of months and pennies on the dollar. When every second person has a smartphone with Internet and is connected to social media, suddenly there are new possibilities. With a few genius and provocative posts, there is a group of people who are willing to do what you want.
Look at Egypt: Without sending any troops or spending billions, there is a new government. Now Libya followed, and the trial run is over. There is no more fear of what will happen in Iraq. If things go bad, then the people of Iraq will fix the problem themselves with the help of social media. The only requirement for the U.S. before complete withdrawal is the insurance that the Iraqi people have access to the Internet.
Andrew Zakharov
Vancouver
