Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.)

America’s stake in the conflict in Iraq is enormous. Success or failure in Iraq is the transcendent issue for our foreign policy and our national security, for now and years to come.
 
Withdrawing before there is a stable and legitimate Iraqi authority would turn Iraq into a failed state in the heart of the Middle East. We have seen a failed state emerge after U.S. disengagement once before, and it cost us terribly. If we leave Iraq prematurely, the jihadists will interpret the withdrawal as their great victory against our great power.
 
We must stay in Iraq until the government there has a fully functioning security apparatus that can keep Zarqawi and his terrorists at bay, and ultimately defeat them. Some argue that our very presence in Iraq has created the insurgency, and if we end the occupation, we end the insurgency. But in fact by ending military operations, we are likely to empower the insurgency.

We must adopt a “clear and stay” counterinsurgency strategy. Rather than focusing on killing and capturing insurgents, we should emphasize protecting the local population, creating secure areas where insurgents find it difficult to operate. Our forces would begin by clearing areas, with heavy force if necessary, to establish a zone as free of insurgents as possible. The security forces can then cordon off the zone, establish constant patrols by American and Iraqi military and police to protect the population from insurgents and common crime, and arrest remaining insurgents.
 
In this newly secure environment, many of the things critical to winning in Iraq can take place--things that are not happening today. Massive reconstruction can go forward without fear of attack and sabotage. Political meetings and campaigning can take place in the open. Civil society can emerge. Intelligence improves, as it becomes increasingly safe for the population to provide tips to the security forces. As these elements positively reinforce each other, the security forces then expand the territory under their control.
 
Securing ever increasing parts of Iraq and preventing the emergence of new terrorist safe havens will require more troops and money. While the United States and its partners are training Iraqi security forces at a furious pace, these Iraqis should supplement, not substitute for, the coalition forces on the ground. Instead of drawing down, we should be ramping up, with more civil-military soldiers, translators, and counterinsurgency operations teams.
 
While it is critical to focus our military efforts on insurgents, the non-military component is also essential. All Iraqis need to see tangible improvement in their daily lives or support for the new government will slip. Sunnis need to feel that should they abandon violence once and for all, there will be some role in the political process for them. The Iraqi people must feel invested in a newly free, newly powerful and prosperous country at peace.
 
While we make improvements in our political-military strategy, the latest polls and protests at home show that we need a renewed effort to win the U.S. homefront. A renewed effort at home starts with explaining precisely what is at stake in this war--not to alarm Americans, but so that they see the nature of this struggle for what it is. The president cannot do this alone. The media, so efficient in portraying the difficulties in Iraq, need to convey the consequences of success or failure there. Critics in the Democratic Party should outline precisely what they believe to be the stakes in this battle, if they are willing to suffer the consequences of withdrawal.
 
Above all, winning the homefront means reiterating our commitment to victory and laying out a realistic game plan that will take America there. I believe that the vast majority of Americans, even those who did not support our initial invasion, wish to see us prevail. They are prepared to pay the human and financial costs of this war only if they believe our government is on a measurable path to victory.
 
America, Iraq, and the world are better off with Saddam Hussein in prison rather than in power. The costs of this war have been high, especially for the over 2,000 Americans and their families who have paid the ultimate price. But liberating Iraq was in our strategic and moral interests, and we must honor their sacrifice by seeing this mission through to victory.