Fri 31 Aug 2007
Our Troops, Their Mission, Iraq's Future
Posted by admin under Military
[3] Comments
I’ve come to a better understanding of the war. Ironically it started with comments by Hillary Clinton. What struck me was that for the first time I can recall I actually agreed with something she had to say. She was speaking at a rally and made the comment that the troops had not failed, but that the Iraqi government had failed. I think that on several levels this is both accurate and unsurprising. Our military has not successfully rebuilt a country since WWII and those were long arduous tasks at best. Our military is ill-equipped to deal with nation-building. Lets face it armies, by design, destroy nations, not build them and ours is the best ever at the former. The Iraqi’s have failed themselves, but it is not because of a lack of desire. I firmly believe that the vast majority of Iraqi’s want peace more than anything else these days. The history, culture and experience of the Iraqi people is conspiring against them. What is so difficult for the typical American to understand is that the typical Iraqi values family and the group before self. This is such a foreign concept to a western civilization that prizes the accomplishments and rights of the individual. For us to try to install such a government that puts the individual first is ignoring the fundamental beliefs of the culture we are attempting to help. Of course there’s going to be friction, even if Iraqi’s shared 99% of western beliefs, but when our foundation is such a polar opposite we can only expect failure. That there are such myriad cacophony gelling into insurgency should not come as a shock.
Reporter Richard Engel’s War Diaries brings to light another important concept that should be more obvious. Engel is interviewing troops who make the point that you can’t support the troops and not the war. The two are not mutually exclusive. The troops are, in essence, the war or perhaps our extended American-ness in the middle of the Iraqi conflict. Another enlightening moment comes from what Engel saw on the ground during the famous scene of Iraqi’s pulling down Saddam’s statue. His prescient take was a group of Shiites finally in power after 1300 years under Sunni rule. He saw the first strike in the Iraqi civil war. We are now caught up in that war with both sides trying to play us to their advantage. Add in the mix of foreign insurgents who’s only goal is to disrupt any potential progress and it is simple to see that any of the current and former plans are somewhat naive.
Congrats. You have very succinctly pointed out why this war is a completely futile endeavor. So why should we continue to dampen the sands of that God forsaken excuse for a country with our children’s blood???
As soccer fans say, “It’s the only game in town, so it’s the one we watch.”
Whatever our reasons for entering Iraq may have been, we are there, get behind it. You hit the nail on the head regarding Engel, you can’t say, “I support our troops, but not the war.” by making this comment, you are in essence telling those soldiers who are dying in that godforsaken part of the world, that they are dying for nothing, and in essence they (read our soldiers) are of no value.
The facts are simple:
1. Saddam Hussein did harbor known terrorists.
a. Abu Nidal (of Achille Lauro fame), was found dead in his Baghdad apartment shortly after we invaded.
2. We are in an announced “War on Terror”, and have made it clear that if you harbor terrorists, we will consider you an enemy.
3. Iraq was in constant violation of the peace treaty that ended the Gulf War of 1991.
a. Hussein used chemical warfare agents on his own people.
4. This country hasn’t suffered a foreign based terrorist attack within its borders since 9/11.
5. If we pull out of Iraq, we would create a vaccuum similar to the one created in Southeast Asia when we turned tail in Vietnam.
a. This will lead to the establishment of a terrorist haven.
b. This will lead to a genocide by those who eventually seize power.
c. This is unacceptable.
We invaded Germany, Japan and Italy during WWII, we landed troops in Korea during their conflict. It has been 50+ years in each case. Guess what? WE STILL STILL HAVE MILITARY BASES IN GERMANY, JAPAN, ITALY AND KOREA!!!
Where are the doves that should be crying for us to withdraw our troops from those war torn areas?
Regretfully, we went to war with an ill-conceived plan. We failed to continually size up the situation and adjust our action plan accordingly. But we are there, and despite what people in Congress (that I didn’t vote for) would tell you, we cannot simply pull up stakes and go home.
Also…
Regarding nation building as a military endeavor, you are correct, the purpose of the military is to kill people and break things. We spent billions rebuilding Europe with the Marshall plan.
Why did it succeed there and as yet hadn’t in Iraq?
I believe the Marshall plan succeeded because we had so totally beaten the Axis powers that there was little resistance by the conquered peoples of Europe. When you have zero infrastructure, you don’t have time to organize a resistance because your survival is the only thing on your mind.
I also believe that like Scott said in his post, that we can’t change 1300 years of history overnight.
Maybe the answer to the whole problem is easier than we think.
How do you break up a bar fight?
Beat the hell out of the guy who is losing. The guy who is winning won’t stop you from beating down his adversary, the guy who you are beating may get in a swing or two, but with two people beating him down he is more likely to submit.
Could this work on a national level? Just a thought.