If there is one overarching theme of all social studies classes, it's the idea that the study of history serves as a guide for the future. As the saying goes, those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

With that in mind, members of Congress are making a grave mistake with their March 29 passage of a bill calling for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq by March of next year.

To better understand the democratization of a country, which is the current mission in Iraq, it helps to reach back into the history books and revisit an example of a similar case.

Following the end of World War II, the United States didn't abandon enemy Germany in its vulnerable state of disarray — relatively equivalent to that of modern day Iraq. Instead, many U.S. forces maintained their positions in Germany and aided the country financially, as outlined in the Marshall Plan. According to estimates by the Congressional Research Service, published in a report to Congress, the U.S. put $4.3 billion into Germany from 1945-52, an amount that roughly translates into $29.6 billion when adjusted to 2005 dollars. At the same time, Japan received $2.2 billion, or $15.2 billion adjusted.

The idea of pumping exorbitant amounts of money into a nation is nothing new and may in fact prove successful in the near future. As exemplified by Germany, a country that is now a positive attribute to the global landscape, an occupation takes time and patience.

There is no denying the missteps of the current administration regarding the entrance and execution of the war — documented many times over by the weapons of mass destruction debacle and countless criticisms of the occupation. And, in fairness, there should be an administrative change as the mission continues to provide a darker outlook for the war's future — one far different than that of the current tunnel-visioned officials in charge.

But an abrupt withdrawal of troops from Iraq, as Congress has suggested, would be a catastrophic mistake.

The most obvious difference between the two examples may, in fact, be the answer to solving the future of Iraq. In an on-the-go nation with the patience of a 5-year-old, common citizens have quickly become fed up with the process of democratization in Iraq. Obviously not satisfied with a complete revolution in just more than five years, members of Congress have reflected their constituents' displeasure and impatience with the ill-advised bill.

What citizens and members of Congress fail to realize is that the success of a cultural revolution — a term more applicable to the goals of the occupation than any other — cannot be judged in single years. The complete eradication of the principles on which a nation stands — which were wrongly established by the Saddam Hussein regime during the past three decades — takes at least a generation, if not more, to come to fruition.

Even in the United States, a country revered as steadfastly progressive both morally and politically, it has taken a new generation to more commonly embrace civil rights and even the technology boom.

But while an immediate departure from the Middle East may sound like a happy flavor of the week, nothing positive can come from the action.

A removal of troops would do nothing more than completely invalidate the efforts of the military for the past five years. Declaring the deceased casualties of a war that never achieved victory is an insult to the positive efforts of American soldiers and Iraqi citizens.

Though an argument can be made that continuing on the current warpath would result in increased casualties and a failed attempt to re-create the political and cultural atmosphere in Iraq, history tells us this process is a marathon, not a sprint.

Furthermore, the highly volatile Iraqi government would be susceptible to reverting back to pre-war conditions conducive to poverty, violence and corruption if abandoned by American forces. Without the United States available to prevent another authoritarian dictator from taking hold of the nation, it's more than plausible Iraq could fall back into the dark hole dug by the Saddam regime — the exact hole American forces have been fighting to fill for more than five years.

Jacob Carpenter is a State News intern. Reach him at carpe219@msu.edu.