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Iraq the Vote

About Exiting Iraq

This page has answers to frequently
asked questions about exiting Iraq and
ending the war. For more information, see:


Does Iraq have the legal authority to ask the U.S. to leave?

Yes. In fact, it has long been U.S. policy that Iraq may ask coalition forces to leave at any time. Here are a few representative statements:

"They can ask us to leave anytime, and we'd be obligated to do it because they're a sovereign government."

–General Richard Myers, Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
(March 13, 2005, Interview with Egyptian journalists)

"[After June 30, 2004] the government of Iraq will be fully sovereign. And that means that our coalition will be there with the consent of the fully sovereign government."

–President George W. Bush
(June 3, 2004, Press Conference)

Is there evidence that U.S. forces would leave if Iraq asks them to?

Yes. Several top U.S. officials have explicitly stated that if Iraq were to request the withdrawal of coalition forces, the request would be honored. For example:

"We are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government. This is a sovereign nation... If they were to say, leave, we would leave."

–President George W. Bush
(May 24, 2007, Press Conference)

"[The Iraqi government might] say: 'We believe we can handle this ourselves now, and you should go home. Thank you very much.' At that point, we would say, 'Glad we've been able to help you,' and we would return our forces back to the United States."

–Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell
(May 14, 2004, G8 Press Conference)

"We serve there at the pleasure of the Iraqi government. You know, if [the Iraqi Prime Minister] says he doesn't need us, we're not going to stick around."

–Former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow
(May 24, 2006, White House Press Briefing)

Reporter: "If the Iraqis ask us to leave and we're not quite convinced that they are ready to take our place, will we still go?" Dr. Rice: "Well, of course, it's a sovereign government."

–U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
(November 22, 2005, Interview on Fox News)

What do Iraqi citizens think about troop withdrawals?

As Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski has written, "The majority of the Iraqi people, opinion polls show, favor such a withdrawal within a relatively short period."1 Between 2005 and 2008, surveys have consistently found that at least 70% of Iraqis want foreign forces to leave within a year.2

What do Iraqi leaders think about troop withdrawals?

Their opinions vary. On the one hand, the Iraqi Parliament approved a bill proposing a timeline for troop withdrawals,3 and Iraq's President and Vice President have both expressed support for troop withdrawals. In the words of the Vice President: "The American administration should be committed with a timetable, conditional withdrawal from Iraq. This is very important."4

On the other hand, Iraq's defense minister has suggested that American troops might remain until at least 2018,5 and Iraqi-American negotiations are now underway to replace the existing United Nations mandate (set to expire at the end of 2008) with a long-term U.S. military presence.6

Thus, there is a significant chance that U.S. troops will maintain a long-term presence in Iraq—against the wishes of most Iraqi citizens—unless a referendum is held to decide the matter democratically.

Is this timing of this proposal realistic?

Yes. If Iraq were to pass a troop withdrawal referendum in 2009, this would leave enough time to (a) arrange the military logistics of exiting, (b) train additional Iraqi security forces to take over domestic peacekeeping operations, and (c) establish a political process with neighboring countries to strengthen regional stability.7 Delaying an exit beyond that time frame would risk giving the appearance of a permanent U.S. occupation.

If the U.S. were to leave Iraq, wouldn't that be an admission of defeat?

No. The U.S. has long pledged that it would leave as soon as Iraqis said they were ready to maintain their own security. Moreover, supporters of the war would be able to claim accomplishments such as removing the military threat posed by Iraq, bringing Saddam Hussein to justice for crimes against humanity, and giving Iraqi citizens the opportunity to adopt a representative form of government.8

What are the risks of withdrawing coalition forces?

Some U.S. leaders have worried that a coalition pullout from Iraq might trigger a Vietnam-style "domino effect" in which multiple countries are toppled or the region is plunged into chaos. For example, President Bush warned in his 2007 State of the Union Address that America's enemies "want to overthrow moderate governments, and establish safe havens from which to plan and carry out new attacks on our country... A contagion of violence could spill out across [Iraq] and in time, the entire region could be drawn into the conflict."9

Yet the dominoes never fell after the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam, and the best available evidence suggests that the presence of coalition forces is increasing violence rather than decreasing it. Indeed, before the Iraq War there had not been a single documented case of a suicide bombing, and the level of sectarian violence and terrorism was far lower than it is today, both within Iraq and globally.10

When a 2007 BBC polled asked Iraqis whether the presence of U.S. forces was making security "better, worse, or having no effect on the security situation," 72% said worse and only 18% said better. Likewise, when asked what would happen if the U.S. were to withdraw its troops "before civil order is fully restored," a plurality of Iraqis said that a withdrawal would make civil war less likely to occur.11

Consistent with Iraqi public opinion, in November of 2007 the commander of British forces reported that violence in southern Iraq fell by 90% after London withdrew its troops from the main city of Basra.12 This dramatic reduction in violence suggests that the real risk may not lie in a troop withdrawal, but rather, in the absence of a troop withdrawal.

What if violence were to escalate after coalition troops are withdrawn?

According to former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and many other military experts, Iraq is already in the midst of a civil war, and ethnic cleansing has already occurred in several areas.13 Nonetheless, it is always possible for the fighting to intensify even further.

In the event of a worst-case scenario such as genocide, the expansion of al Qaeda in Iraq, or a conflagration in Iraqi Kurdistan, the best option would be to engage Iraq's neighbors and allies in a coordinated political and economic effort to end the conflict. Failing that, it may be necessary to deploy an international peacekeeping force under the auspices of the United Nations, Arab League, or another multilateral party.


  1. Brzezinski, Z. (2007, January 12). Five flaws in the President's plan. Washington Post, p. A19. Return to text

  2. Agence France-Presse. (2008, March 17). Seven out of 10 Iraqis want foreign forces to leave (for full results, see 5th Anniversary Poll). Paley, A. R. (2006, September 27). Most Iraqis favor immediate U.S. pullout, polls show. Washington Post, p. A22. See also Iraqi polls from August 2007 and September 2006, as well as the Global Policy Forum list of Iraqi Public Opinion Polls. Return to text

  3. Partlow, J. (2007, May 11). Iraqi lawmakers back bill on U.S. withdrawal, Washington Post, p. A12. Return to text

  4. A Conversation with Tariq Al-Hashimi. Council on Foreign Relations, December 19, 2006; Democracy Now!; Think ProgressReturn to text

  5. Shanker, T. (2008, January 15). Minister sees need for U.S. help in Iraq until 2018. New York Times, p. 1. Return to text

  6. Shanker, T., & Myers, S. L. (2008, January 25). U.S. asking Iraq for wide rights on war. New York Times, p. 1. Return to text

  7. According to many security analysts, a full withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq will take 6-12 months, depending on how much equipment is left behind. See the October 18, 2007, issue of Mother Jones for more than 50 interviews on ending the war, and Iraq War Withdrawal and Exit Plans from the Project on Defense Alternatives. Return to text

  8. Clarke, R. A. (2005, November 29). A way out of Iraq. USA Today, p. A13. Return to text

  9. President George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, January 23, 2007. Return to text

  10. Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism. (2007, April 30). Country Reports on Terrorism 2006 (p. 329). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State. Return to text

  11. Iraq Poll September 2007 (pp. 13, 17). Return to text

  12. Associated Press. (2007, November 15). In Basra, violence is a tenth of what it was before British pullback, general says. International Herald Tribune. Return to text

  13. CNN. (2006, November 29). Colin Powell says Iraq in a "civil war". See also Fearon, J. D. (2007, March/April). Iraq's civil war. Foreign Affairs, 86(2), pp. 2-16. Return to text