Or as the MAD magazine character Alfred E. Neumann used to say, "What, me worry?".
Well, here's why I worry.
1- There have been in the past more than enough examples of crazy/nasty/megalomaniac leaders of nations and movements who did not hesitate to lie, cheat, manipulate, punish, destroy, and murder in pursuit of their own agenda for power, to the point of bringing horrific damage to not only all those they wanted to conquer or destroy, but also their own people. From Napoleon to Pol Pot, we do not lack knowledge of what such people can accomplish if left alone to build engines of destruction while descending into an egomaniac arrogance of invulnerability. Why would we believe none such can exist in the world of today or tomorrow?
2- We have only to glance at North Korea to see a true hellhole on earth, ruled by the present nutcase and his father before him for the past 60+ years, with a starving population but an army of brainwashed automatons champing at the bit to invade South Korea, and an apparent devotion to having nuclear weapons capacity. A government that has defied and manipulated the West for decades, extorting food and energy supplies by threats of violence, while conceding nothing of any meaning at all. What is there to indicate to the madmen at the top that anything can ever happen to really affect them negatively, when the West has acted largely as a supplicant and the worst that happens is the occasional UN embargo that doesn't cause that leadership to be deprived of so much as an after dinner mint?
3- Or we can examine Iran, the modern history of which started with the most blatantly illegal and illicit international outrage of modern times, a 444 day imprisonment of an entire diplomatic staff, for which there were no real negative consequences, but the enormous positive consequence of being the first "little nation" to successfully defy and indeed humiliate the USA. A nation under rule of what is the only real theocracy of modern times, dominated by fundamentalist Islamic thought that has concentrated on hatred of Israel, the USA, and the West in general for over a generation now. A government in power under a radical whose public pronouncements are so strongly reminiscent of Adolf Hitler that people who wish to do so, can dismiss him as a crazy clown (just as Hitler was dismissed by many in the late 1920s). A government which has exported massive amounts of weapons and supplies to radical jihadists in many parts of the Middle East, and very effectively fomented violence and expansion of radicalism in the region, and has yet to suffer the slightest penalty for so doing. A government that continues to defy the world in its drive to also obtain nuclear weapons capacity.
4- Underlying all this is the broad spread of Wahabism throughout the Islamic world, funded in large part by billions in Saudi oil money that has gone to build madrasa schools far and wide, where young boys are inculcated in religious extremism, where fiery preachers learn their trade and end up in mosques from Scotland to Skokie spreading the word that the caliphate must be restored, the infidels conquered or destroyed, and of course, Israel be utterly removed from existence. There are multiple currents in this overall stream of jihadism, the contributions of Hamas and Hezbollah, often allied with Iran, cannot be neglected either, and the incredible perversion of Islam that glorifies suicide attacks against innocents and has mothers rejoicing in their sons' deaths while acting as mass murderers is the most dramatic evidence possible of how a culture of death and destruction has been created and nurtured into significant proportions. And the tactics of terror have rendered mute the great bulk of the moderate communities of Islam across the world. 5- And who is left to counter the growth of these threats to world peace and stability? The UN, which could do nothing in Ruanda, failed in a feeble attempt in Somalia, can do nothing today in Darfur, could not even manage a very public and important program to allow Iraq under Saddam to export oil solely for food to feed his people? Like it or not, the US is the only six-foot-six guy in the room, everyone else is 5'6" or less, and when anyone thinks of heavy lifting to be done, all eyes turn to the red/white/blue. But at the same time, they want, and many of our own people want, us to be able to do things with transparent perfection, so no innocent is even made uncomfortable, much less hurt or killed, indeed, even fanatic killers by their own admission must be treated far better by us than our own convicts on Death Row, and infinitely better than they'd be treated by authorities in their own countries. The least transgression, real or alleged, by our troops is trumpeted as evidence of our utter moral failure and brings screaming condemnation from all sides, while a massive policy of atrocities by anyone else generates at most some expressions of regret. (Or even various levels of excuses as to why such acts are understandable, if not quite excusable.) All of this leads steadily towards inevitable impossibility of achieving any good in the world, and impels Americans back more and more towards feelings and concepts that harken back to the days of Isolationism. (Which didn't work then and sure as hell won't work now.)
6- So we see all these very worrisome things rolling along with no real brakes to be applied by the UN or anyone else. Here is the quote that I am only too sure applies now- "If history teaches us anything, it teaches that self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly." Today's self-delusion is that the West can walk away from Iraq and let it collapse into complete bloody chaos, and it'll all work out somehow. And just a decade or two from now people will be taking great vacations there, greeted by warm and friendly locals, just as we can today in Viet Nam.
But Iraq is NOT Viet Nam, and rising Islamic extremism is not weak and failing Soviet communism. No, there is no "Green Army" of divisions of men, with tanks, planes, ships, large military bases, etc, threatening to invade like the Panzers into Poland in '39. That doesn't mean there's no real threat in the long term. Iran and North Korea are threats as well. In terms of the world today and these dangers, a very simple principle applies- You can pay now, or you can pay later. And later, the costs will be much, much higher.
I don't have a perfect, easy answer, nobody does. But abandoning Iraq, and continuing to tolerate rogue states that openly threaten the peace and continue to work at gaining nuclear weapons with which to bully and endanger the world are absolutely the wrong answers.
Del