The Gaggle That Is Iraq

So it's more of the same from El Presidente and his team of under-achievers. A 20,000-plus troop surge in Iraq to "pacify" Baghdad. Okay, so they'll end up slightly extending the green zone in the short term after fierce battles in which the American service members will bear the brunt of the fighting. Of course, we won't provide any social services or significant infrastructural assistance to the Iraqi people; we'll just let al qaeda do that for us since we squandered all of that money on Halliburton and countless other dead-end endeavors. So where does that leave us? Here are a few random thoughts on Iraq.

1. The Iraqi Army and police do not have the will to fight. At least not for the Iraqi democracy. Most of the Iraqis that actually were trained to fight and had the will now fight against us, since we disbanded the Iraqi Army after our "mission was accomplished." Also, the basic unit of loyalty and authority in Iraq is the clan/tribe; all other types and levels of authority are secondary. Hence, sectarian violence throughout the country and division in Parliament along tribal lines. They don't really understand democracy and national unity; Saddam kept them under control by force or the threat of force; he violently suppressed any organization that was threat to his power including rival tribes or clans. We westerners don't understand that.

2. It's really not up to the Iraqis to defend Iraq; it's up to the United States to do that. (here's a great perspective on that). Yes, we broke it and it's up to us to fix it. Let's get over the crap line that the politicians are using saying that it's time for the Iraqis to stand up and take responsibility for what's going on. Last I checked, they were living in a more secure environment (under a dictator, of course) but there was not open violence in the streets, there was more reliable electricity and running water. There were death squads, but everyone knew who they belonged to. There was fear of course, but not the level of fear that exists today. Let's face it; we blew it big time. If we really want to pacify the situation, we would need to commit additional troops in the hundreds of thousands; declare martial law; round up every single person suspected of being the "enemy" and make examples of them so no one else would dare to follow in their footsteps. In addition, we would need to commit billions into infrastructure repair and establishment, building schools and civil buildings, social services, etc. Seeing as we've wasted billions already, I don't see this happening, but it is OUR responsibility to ensure a stable future for the Iraqi people; it was us who brazenly invaded their country and turned their lives upside down. It is up to US to stay there and do the right things to help them; which doesn't include retreating (or redeploying) or cutting numbers of troops or increasing them by 20,000. We need 200,000 to do it right.

3. Sound Like Vietnam? It certainly should, since we are committing the same mistakes. We are trying to train people that ARE NOT warriors to be warriors. We are not providing social services to the people, but we are allowing the enemy to do so. We are fighting amongst ourselves about what to do because no one wants to admit that our sacrifice will be great in order to do the right thing. Who is suffering in the meantime? The innocent men, women and children of Iraq. We have lost them. We have lost their trust; we have lost their support. We treat them much like we treat our own poor; we talk around them and about them, but not to them. We don't endear ourselves to them; therefore, they do not endear themselves to us. They see us as invaders not liberators. They see us as enemies, not friends. There is much we must do to re-gain their trust. It would such a shame to leave the country in such shambles. This is a test of our national resolve. If we fail, our national prominence will significantly diminish. We can't keep repeating Vietnam; we have to actually do one of these things right. We should never have gone to Iraq in 2003, but now that we are there, we have to succeed.