Supporting the Troops
Support our US Troops; bring them home now! Whether you were for the war or against it, the way the US has handled the occupation makes my stomach clench (see Harper's Weekly for the Baghdad Ground Zero neocon plan and Voices in the Wilderness for the continued Falluja siege). The continued insurgency is not simply made up of Saddam loyalists or multinational terrorists. Many of the insurgents are unemployed, hungry, and homeless results of Paul Bremer and Coalition Authority policies.If the US wants Syrian troops out of Lebanon before the May election is considered fair, then why have US troops overstayed their welcome in Iraq even after the elections?
The following picture circulating among the US military puts it best:
More at http://www.militaryproject.org/
posted by the prisoner @ 6:48:00 AM
4 Comments:
"If the US wants Syrian troops out of Lebanon before the May election is considered fair, then why have US troops overstayed their welcome in Iraq even after the elections?"
Well, it's my opinion that you can't just walk into something, turn it upside down, give it new arrangement and then walk out expecting for there to be peace and justice. Yes, we got Iraq elections but now we have to enforce order while their economic and social systems are worked out. There's still plenty of angry mobs we have to protect the civilians from.
We're not overstaying our stay in Iraq as of right now, we're enforcing and maintaining the peace we've fought hand in hand with them to create. Every new nation is most vulnerable in it's beginnings, we're only helping them set up their foundation, and that goes past achieving elections.
Well, it's my opinion that you can't just walk into something, turn it upside down, give it new arrangement and then walk out expecting for there to be peace and justice.
I couldn't have said it better myself. Regime change by external force was never the appropriate response in the beginning, much less now.
I used to believe that US troops help the Iraqi people more than increase the ranks of the Iraqi resistance. Finally, it dawned on me that another country's army cannot give a country freedom and expect that country to treat the army as anything but occupiers, no matter what their intentions. Now, good or bad, everything we do is suspect. The ridiculous moral high-ground we went into Iraq with is now strewn across the streets of Iraq along with the rubble.
Will things be perfect when we leave Iraq? Will everyone be secure? No. But it never will be until the Iraqis defend themselves instead of having to choose between US interests and Islamic terrorists. That dichotomy shouldn't exist. They should be as proud to be Iraqis as we are in being American, not subjugated to an endless curfews and checkpoints.
I wonder what will happen when the US does pull out. Will the resistance cease to be? I doubt it. But will it have the same strength when the only target left is the Iraqi populace? I doubt it.
But waiting that out is a fool's game. If there's no end in sight, let go of how you got there and get out!
I agree that despite another country's intentions to help, resentment and anger find a perfect outlet in their army's constant presence. Specially in a situation where you don't really have a standing or a countable opinion. A setting where what you were once taught is no longer in play and although the promise of a better life lingers, the tangible taste of loss, hurt, and powerlessness is dominant.
That is exactly why we can't leave. The Iraqi people have been subject to many tribulations and are in need of direction. I don't mean to imply they have no opinion of their own, but their country is currently susceptible to tyranny as much as it is open to innovation and prosperity. To pack up and go home now would be a loss of all our efforts into guaranteeing them a home in which their opinions will be heard and their individuals will not be forsaken.
Also, as you said, whenever we leave Iraq their nation will not be perfect, but there is the hope that we will have allowed them the chance to fight, build, and grow in a free country where, if nothing else, they will have the right to make mistakes.
And lastly, I do believe that since a state in which a revolution could have been succesful and triumphant in Iraq was non-existant, it was necessary for an outside force - whose foundations at least claim to have been born for the liberty of all men - to intervene and allow such a condition to be possible.
For in order to keep the liberties and freedom of your own home safe you must insure that of your neighbors'. I think that's a re-phrased quote by Thomas Payne, I couldn't remember the exact wording.
"They should be as proud to be Iraqis as we are in being American, not subjugated to an endless curfews and checkpoints."
In retrospect, the curfews and checkpoints they are being subdued to now are incomparable to the anguish that Saddam's regime caused it's population on a regular basis. The rapes, the murders, and the constant paranoiah. I do agree however that they need to step up and pick up their fight for an independent nation, becoming thus the mission of a people's thirst for freedom as opposed to the first link on a domino reaction. And by that I don't necessarily mean adopting our own customs, but realizing their own and employing them. Like you said, "But it never will be until the Iraqis defend themselves instead of having to choose between US interests and Islamic terrorists. That dichotomy shouldn't exist" and once again I concurr, but in order for that to be possible, the latter had to be eliminated from rule. And it is my hope that through our actions their liberty to become a unique, free, and unified nation will be guaranteed.
Highly idealistic, I know, but there has to be a dream before there can be a realization.
Thank you for your comments. Not only did it give me a chance to flesh out my simple post, it also gave you a chance to voice your opinion.
I so want to agree with you, because there was a long time I did. Even though I was staunchly against the war, I came to accept our Iraqi presence as necessary. I wish I could go back to that position.
I can't anymore. We do more damage than good both physically and symbolically. The destruction of Falluja was one of the worst things I have seen the US do in a long time. Many Iraqis have large families and so unlike Americans (who wouldn't know a cousin even if they lived next door), even if that person wasn't in Falluja, someone knows a relative who lost someone.
I'm tired of comparing bad to worse. Either the US becomes a positive influence or little influence. Comparing the US to Saddam is a ridiculous scale.
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