textonly.com

What to do in Iraq

There is a lot of opinion flying around now in the punditsphere - and most of it makes no sense. 3 more months, 6 more months, more troops, less troops, etc. The game is over. My take below:

What to do in Iraq

Get out – that is the only course of action that can be taken. Things are a mess, things will be a mess for some time. The US staying there can do nothing about that. Staying means more dead soldiers, with no positive side effects. We need to realize that we can not control that part of the world, that we don’t understand the culture, language and geopolitics of the region, that America and Americans are not willing to occupy foreign countries and have their sons and daughters killed for the oil industry.

I am as tired as anyone of the pundits, the government officials - elected and appointed – the military leaders, etc. who think they have an answer or a plan to solve the Iraq “problem”. There is no option but withdrawal. It is not a naïve position - it is a forward thinking, pragmatic, realistic position. There is no central front of a decentralized war. The terrorists are not going to invade America, ever. These ridiculous talking points of fear are just that – simple catch phrases to scare the population into believing impossible events, so that the people in charge can retain power (and in case you haven’t noticed – it didn’t work). Terrorism has existed for centuries and will continue to exist, and we need to fight it with intelligence and cunning, with solid police work, with international cooperation and with forward thinking strategies and better policies. We need to engage the Muslim world, to stop being belligerent and to stop using stupid phrases like “Islamofascism” that do nothing for us but create more enemies.

Will terrible things happen in Iraq when we leave? Sadly, yes – many terrible things - many thousands more will be killed, kidnapped, mutilated, etc. The electricity still won’t work, women will be persecuted, and suicide bombers will blow things up. But this is happening now as it is – and it is the fault of the Bush administration and of their terrible policies – they have to take responsibility, and we also, as Americans, have to take responsibility of our governments actions, even if we completely disagree with them. Things can probably not get any more terrible than they are now (not that the situation will improve anytime soon) – but we have to learn to live with the fact that we unleashed this mess on Iraq, that the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis were killed on our watch. All Iraqis have memories of this occupation and will blame the deaths of their sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, etc. on us. That is fact. It will take generations to heal, and real work on our side, but again points to only one course of action – to leave immediately. Staying only prolongs the hurt, hate, and anger that builds against us daily.

The sooner we end this the sooner we can start to heal our military, and the sooner Iraq or whatever survives of that country will stumble to it’s feet. Our commitment should be to the day after we leave, to better foreign policy, to the rebuilding of our military, to better and realistic energy policies, to contrition and reparations, to support for other nations who will no doubt step into the breach at some point, to the UN, etc. Will the price of oil go up? It is going up anyway. Will Iran end up controlling Iraq? Maybe. Will Turkey end up in a war with the Kurds? Possibly.

But even if all or none of that happens, even if in one, two or three years, we need to go back to help the Turks protect their border, or we are asked by a newly sovereign Iraq to help beat back Iranian forces, or the UN asks us to bomb the HQ of the new Iraqi strongman, whatever the scenario – I am not choosing sides or betting on anything or anyone – and I am not going to rule anything out – but when and if something happens that really does need our military to act, by leaving now we will still have a military that can be used as a force again.

So, just to sum up, for those who still don’t seem to get it (which unfortunately seems to be the people in charge and the people who write about them and appear on TV to tell us about them), this war was and is a giant mistake, a disaster of the first magnitude, and there is nothing positive that can happen by prolonging it for even a single day. Most of the world realizes this – the American public realizes this. Now we need our politicians and talking heads to realize it. There have been plenty of dark times in the history of America and the world. We have been living in one of them – let’s end it today.

Comments

Posted by: unwashedbrain.blogspot.com at November 21, 2006 02:38 PM

Post a comment