Posted by
A Common Man on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 1:30:18 PM
The Iraq situation is not a war. War is between armies. The US Army et. al. has been tasked with a job there but their opponents are not soldiers. They wear no uniforms. They wear masks. They kill bystanders, children, women, nurses, politicians, journists et. al. without regard to whom or what they are. That they also ambush soldiers does not make them an army. There is the perception in the US that this is a conflict between ethnic and religious groups. If this were true the divisions would not be so blurred, there would be sides but even the Sunni's and Shias cannot be counted on not to kill each other. My guess (and it is only a guess) is that the 'truth' is too complex for the media to condense into a reasonalbly intelligible piece so the accounts find simple explanations and designations for what is inherently a complex issue. I think those who wish US troops were not in Iraq have succeeded in getting the country (and likely the world) to call this a war. It is not a war any more than Rwanda was a war except in Iraq, everyone has weapons and many use them. The US soldiers in Iraq are fighting people who want to kill and kill indiscriminately. The reason that the infrastructure is failing (water, electricity et. al.) is because technicians willing to risk their lives to fix plumbing are few and far between. But the main issue is a short memory in the US ( and the world). If it was a 'war', there would be demands, the promise of a negotiation to satisfy all sides, a place where diplomacy would actually have a place. This is not the case. We have not acknowledged this and calling it a 'war' suggests we have misconstrued the situation.
When the US army arrived in Bagdad, the 'Iraqi Army' disappeared. Uniforms vanished and those 'supporting' the Baathist regime melted into the general population. It is my contention that these people and the foreigners who have flocked to 'help' them are often behind the violence in Iraq. This violence is not 'hate of America' as some have it. It is hate of order and Democracy in particular and as such is fundamentally a struggle for power which for them equates to a struggle for survival.
Consider this. If Democracy were allowed to stablize in Iraq, electricity worked, the toilets flushed and schools opened, what would the political agenda include immediately? What has happened in South Africa, the Balkans and in Rwanda? Courts appeared, seeking out the perpetrators of the crimes of the previous regimes which results in execution or imprisonment of the guilty. The Baathists have no prospect for a future in their country because of their previous brutality. They know it, the Iraqis in general know it. The West, politicians, media and public seem to have forgotten this. There are guilty people in Iraq and stability and the due process it would allow would find them guilty and condemnn them. Is it any wonder that they are fighting all semblance of order and democratic governance in their country? What do they have to lose? Now, I doubt those who are to be tried are those driving the bombs into market crowds. Surely they are behind it however, and will remain so. In the West, we seek to 'understand' the situation but it seems to me we have forgotten more than we understand.
Am I for the 'War'? There is no war. Ideologically, it seems to me this is a struggle for the power to determine the shape of the future for that country. The KKK did the same in the US, at one time Birmingham, AL was the 'bomb capital' of the world. Few people, today, could suppose that fighting the KKK and its influence in the US was a flawed policy. Should we be in Iraq? That question has been answered, was answered by an 80% majority prior to putting troops on the ground there. Now it is a pointless question--we ARE in Iraq. The only thing that matters is what we do next. It is a struggle and being in, we should make those opposed beware of us.
It is possilbe that this violence has distracted Iraq itself, the US and the West in general from the endeavor which is most feared by the terrorists in Iraq. Justice through the rule of law and due process rather than through the rule of the gun. If there were courts seeking and arresting the former officials of the previous regime of Saddam Hussien, perhaps this source of the violence would be found and rooted out with justice and due process. Until this is recognized, the destruction and violence will continue. If this is occurring, the media makes no note of it and so it seems to this common man, that it is not occurring.
Am I 'for the war'? There is no war. It is, however, a struggle and it has two sides. I am for democracy and the due process that a democratically created judicial system may produce (we know it is no guarantee but it is the best solution available). I am against the murder as a political tactic, the rule of the gun and revenge as a substitute for Justice. This struggle is about democracy. This Struggle is about whether we Americans and the West in general are willing to confront people who want to destroy democracy and by opposing, end them. It is my observation that in Iraq, we face people, violent people who are working very effectively to destroy democracy in that country. They are not the majority. The Western military presence there is the major hope for democracy. Our choice is then, to continue to support democracy in that country or to shrug off the responsibility we assumed by toppling the existing government (a different discussion for that cannot be now undone) and walking away. This conflict will exhibit to the world the commitment the West, and America in particular has to democracy in the third world. If it is possible to present Iraq simply, it seems to me this is A simple presentation which is sensible but does not mitigate the inherent complexities. The media, the Bush Administration and both parties have not focused on this aspect of the matter. I would think that if one of them would espouse this focus, the debate about the matter would be altered as well and perhaps the hope of the terrorists (whoever they are) in Iraq would diminish accordingly. For it is Democracy they really fear--terrorists and thugs, radicals and fools. Due process and Justice. So they should. For Justice in the hands of a Democracy is more fearsome than guns in the hands of thugs. It seems sometimes that American politicians, media and we, the public tend to forget this truth.