Let me go on record as being opposed to the current situation in Iraq. But I am in support of our troops who are serving for their country. Please check out this article in Newsweek for some pretty scary information. How Al-Sadr May Control U.S. Fate in Iraq Because of poorly thought out processes, we are playing referee in a civil war we should not be involved in. Relying on information from National outcasts, we have been put in a very difficult position by our current administration. As a country we supported a minority Sunni leadership in the form of dictator Saddam Hussein, and now are paying the huge consequences. We now are seeing divides we can not mediate and should count our losses and come home.
Am I being ruthless and uncaring? No. I am being a realist in seeing that we can not heal wounds that go back centuries and have nothing to do with our occupation. The Shiites have held a populace majority for some time but have been politically and financially oppressed by their fellow countrymen. It comes down once again to fanatical religiosity. The Sunnis are fundamental Islamist and the Shiites believe that a 12th prophet is due to emerge soon to help their “jihad.”
The new leader of this cause is a scary personality we have helped form. Moqtada al-Sadr is an adolescent Shiite leader in his twenties who was once obsessed with video games. Moqtada's father, Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, had been a leading ayatollah, a rival to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and other top clerics. But gunmen—assumed to be working for Saddam—murdered the elder Sadr along with two of his sons in 1999. Moqtada was 25 at the time. And now he has been a scourge to our army.
Our current administration needs to cooperate with the process of withdrawal. We need to focus on why our intelligence information was wrong and rectify it for the future.
We are not going to win no matter who we leave in power.
Supporting the troops means bringing them home! Bush has been very effective in reversing that reality. This invasion (Thats what it was) should never have occured and this occupation (Thats what it is now) is actually destabilizing the entire region. No good will come of our troops staying.
ReplyDeleteAlso Richard, their have been people saying this ALL ALONG. Maybe you should watch some Democracy Now.
I have been saying this all along! I have been watching and am on Democracy Now! e-mail group. I usually do not deviate from local news/politics and softball, but this last article by Newsweek really upset me. Excuse me!
ReplyDeleteI apologize Richard. By the appearance of your blog, it looked like this was a new revelation to you or something. I am upset we are still trying to convince others this was a giant mistake. It was apparent this was a mistake before the invasion even started. Lets just calm down.
ReplyDeleteWe can't just up and leave. We did that in vietnam and the vietnamese who were anti-communist were slaughtered. We leave Iraq now and some new dictator will take over and there WILL be a civil war like you've never seen. Not only that, Iran will attack Iraq in order to sieze land and oil.
ReplyDeleteI'd encourage richard, shane, and many of you anti-war people read some books on war strategem, as well as some history books.
Also, if you want to compre the fight against Islamic fundamentalism then do some research on WWII. You'll clearly see more comparisons with that war than with vietnam.
Screw you dickie!!! All the money the millitary spends on Iraq could buy the homeless free housing, free healthcare, free food, free everything. All those soldiers should be brought back and forced to build the houses for the homeless and too supply every need for every homeless man at the expense of the government.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the Kurds?
ReplyDeleteMike Thompson voted against the war in Iraq to start with, and he is publicly on record that he would vote to impeach Bush. It is quite a stretch to try and blame the Dems for ANYthing the feds have done since 2000. At least give them a few months to screw something up before you start slinging blame.
ReplyDeleteNick Bravo said...
ReplyDeleteWe can't just up and leave. We did that in vietnam and the vietnamese who were anti-communist were slaughtered. We leave Iraq now and some new dictator will take over and there WILL be a civil war like you've never seen. Not only that, Iran will attack Iraq in order to sieze land and oil.
IF NICK BRAVO SAID IT, IT MUST BE TRUE. Well, maybe not.
Iran is a pretty hep country, politics-wise. They probably have enough sense to send their surrogates into Iraq to influence events instead of moving in like George W. Bush with guns blazing.
And, O Wise One, Nick Bravo, the USA did not just "Up and Run" from Vietnam. Who told you that? Sean Hannity? Apparently you were too young to be reading the newspapers at the time, or else you would know about Nixon's
"Vietnamization" plan. It was implemented. Read about it and you will see: The United States did not suddenly withdraw from Vietnam. The South Vietnamese forces "stoodup" and then the United States forces "stood down."
The difference between Vietnam and Iraq, from here in Eureka, seems to be that the Iraqis are willing to be trained, but unwilling to actually "stand up."
Mike Thompson is part of the Blue Dog gang determined to continue the war, and he has rejected calls to join the Out of Iraq caucus.
ReplyDeleteSince bloggers are not usually strategeists for the military its pretty safe to say we aren't deciding anything here.
ReplyDeleteThat said-go ahead and comment all you want. IMHO an idea that hasn't gathered much support to temporarily increase troop strength then slowly withdraw our troops as the insurgents are taken care of and Iraqis take over is more sensible.
To withdraw troops completely without ever having enough in the first place to make the difference would be unwise. Bush tried to pull this off o the cheap and made a complete mess of the whole thing.
Yes, we shouldn't have invaded Iraq in the first place-but Bush II is an idiot that never should have been elected.
Who is responsible? The people who elected him-send Iowa over there.
Iowa, Ohio the entire MidWest-that should make enough 'troops'.
ReplyDeleteAt the risk of seeming flippant, let me point out that a "troop" is a body of soldiers. A "trooper" is an individual soldier.
ReplyDeleteOf course nobody is well-educated enough in America to know it.
Except, now, us.
What I meant is that modern Americans may never have been taught correct military terminology since so few of us have been called upon to serve.
ReplyDeleteIt's much the same with proper treatment of the United States flag. Surprising how many people want to display it, but don't know how to display it according to what earlier generations of Americans called "flag etiquette."
My dad was a major in the army. Served in World War II and was at Pearl Harbor during the big one. I have a picture on my wall here at home with him and his troop standing in front of the Scofield Barracks before they were blown up. My three older brothers served in either Korea and Viet Nam. I have heard enough service jargon to last me a life time and I have seen first hand what war can do to families.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Iraq, we did not go to war with them, we invaded them to give them freedom from the very man we put in power. I have had many loved ones that I know serve their country valiantly in Iraq and I have not heard any optimistic prognostics on a peaceful resolution.
America took three years to figure out that the War in Iraq was a horrible idea.
ReplyDeleteThree years of undeserved death and destruction. Three years for Billions of Dollars to be stolen by the FOG (Friends of George).
We need to catch this type of terrible mistake much more quickly in the future.
We simply can NOT afford any more huge mistakes like this.
When Bush 43 and his neo-cons are done with us, we won't have a friend in the world, a dollar in the Treasury, or an ounce of self-respect.
When the American people in 2004 returned to office the worst president in our nation's history, we heaped shame upon The United States. Now that we finally realize the disaster Bush has been for our nation, Americans want to blame anybody but the responsible party: ourselves.
A slow withdrawal is probably what we'll do and it'll be a mistake. We should pull out massively, overnight.
ReplyDelete