Bury Me Broken

Iraq's the Thing

I took a break from blogging to revamp, rededicate and make some decisions but decided that I needed to cover Iraq, talk about Iraq and keep Iraq at the forefront.

Iraq is significant for a number of reasons. Yes, there are people that are happy that Iraq is continuing to be a source of poison for the Bush administration. They might even argue, as taboo as it would be to do so, that Iraq not getting better, however tragic, will result in ridding the US of Bush and ultimately that is good for everyone.
Ends justifying already quagmired means. I'm not one of them.

And yes there are pundits that believe that the majority or many Democrats are happy that Iraq is a quagmire but these pundits aren't capable of even dealing with the facts on the ground as reported by all of the top military brass. They desperately need to be right because pride is at stake. They are so married to the ideology of the right that can't bear to be wrong and they will clench, white knuckled to any whitewashed progress report, quote or feel good phrase uttered by the commander-in-chief.

Iraq, however, is vital for real and far more quintessential reasons than those. First, we are members of a world community whether some of our jingoistic and delusioned fellow citizens, politicians and mouthpieces care to either realize or acknowledge. Invading Iraq and not finding the stockpiles of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons has damaged us far beyond any short term solution. We have both cried wolf and brazenly told the entire world that we are right and everyone else is wrong. We will ignore international law because we are right. We will weaken the United Nations because they won't do what we say. Terrorism cannot be fought without global intel cooperation and we have damaged, damaged, damaged that cooperation, good will and community spirit. That is most important.

Secondly, we have damaged a sovereign nation. Will Iraq eventually be better off than it was under Saddam Hussein. Most likely. But wouldn't the rape and murder in Sudan cease if we invaded? We have been unable to restore electricity after almost three years. Reports this week of torture by Iraqi troops while American companies are complicit. Reports of Iraqi troops being infiltrated by individuals seeking to punish a different ethnic group.

Third, we have killed a lot of Iraqi citizens. It is unfortunate and one may argue necessary but the fact remains that we have killed a lot of Iraqi civilians. What has been troubling is that we have no idea how many have been killed. This is troubling because the numbers can be exaggerated in either direction. Legends have a way of continuing to fuel fire for generations.

Finally, we are losing American lives. I saved this for last because many have omitted the lost of life other than that of Americans. This is unthinkable. Morality or law is irrespective of nationality. A life is a life. That said, we are losing the lives of our American brothers and sisters and although it can be argued concerning necessity, it can certainly be equally argued that necessity and subsequently cost benefit analysis has to take into account the fact that with the number of troops occupying Iraq, we cannot secure Iraq period let along long enough to train Iraqi forces. If we cannot debate that possibility, we cannot be civilized and the entire political arena is a waste. The present punditry and position of the president makes this republic of ideas moot. For shame.

posted by niteskolar @ 3:16 PM