Iraq Update
Good news out of Iraq this week as the Pentagon has released an assessment that shows "significant progress" being made on the ground as violence is in dramatic decline and the economy continues to grow. High profile attacks have dropped by more than half in the past several months and there has been a cited "tribal awakening" of Sunni and Shia leaders rallying their followers against al-Qaeda. On top of that, more Iraqi forces are conducting, and taking a lead in, counter-insurgency operations. However, the main issue that remains (as many already know) is the slow transition of control from Americans forces to the Iraqis themselves.Police forces are having problems with corruption within their ranks while the Iraqi Army is attempting to deal with a lacking officer corp and high levels of desertion. Iran continues to fuel the remaining militias who fight our soldiers and kill innocent civilians; Syria holds the door open for foreign warriors to enter the fight. While progress is being made by leaps and bounds, there continues to be a level of fear that deters many Iraqis from stepping forward and doing their part to rebuild and secure their nation.
Now comes the argument over what should be done about these remaining issues.
I say continue the fight. Progress will only continue to compile into additional successes. The entire liberal stance of "cut and run" is completely off the table at this point since we have been able to show that Iraq is not the "lost cause" that they were screaming about a year ago (an argument that was unjustified then and now). The surge worked. Continue the push forward. I suppose one could say "stay THIS course."
Yes, there are problems, but these issues revolve around fear: the key aspect of terrorism. With the increased levels of security and safety, more citizens will continue to center themselves behind this new government and its goals. A secure and controlled Iraq will produce an environment in which ordinary citizens will be able to step up and accomplish extraordinary feats...a trend similar to our great nation's beginnings.
Can we continue to be the "helping hand" that sees the Iraqi people through this hard time as we continue to build another free friend in the Middle East? I'd like to think so.
posted by Carl Soderberg at
12:51 AM
4 Comments:
And this is the issue with conservatives: you somehow believe that just because less people are dying now compared to the last year, it somehow negates any liberal idea or argument. I am glad to see that you discussed the problems we are still running into, but I believe you still ignore and minimalize the levels of violence, and your "solution" is more conservative babble. Stay the course will only result in more violence. The only sure-fire way to end the deaths of American Soldiers is to pull them home safely and concentrate our efforts for security here at home.
You being a soldier now, I would imagine you would like to see a withdrawal rather than a deployment notice.
On the regular news sources (networks, cable etc) there is little to no reporting of the positive achievements in the war effort in Iraq OR Afghanistan. Why is that?
Reefering to Robert's remarks above, How long did it take to rebuild the United States after the American Revolution or the Civil War? How about the rebuilding of Japan or Germany after WWII- I think it was over 10 years. Korea, we're still there. Bosinia, Clinton said we would be out in 10 months, we're still there after 11 years. War is bad, everyone, republican, conservative, domocrat, liberal, green people, all desire a world without war. Unfortunately that's not the world we live in and we here in the U.S. don't start all the wars. Remember we were attacked and the current military actions conducted by the U.S. are a result of that attack. Robert, do some research about our enemies, they want to end your way of life and YOUR LIFE. By the way Robert, since the U.S. has taken the fight over seas, how many times have we been attacked on our home soil? Additionally Robert,18,000 U.S. citizens are killed every year by violent crime right here in the U.S. That's one every 35 minutes. Do you care about them? Are you speaking out on this matter? What are you going to do about it? One last item Robert, 44,000 Americans are killed in or by cars every year in the U.S.- should we all stop driving and ban cars?
anon,
Your ignorance is disgusting. I'll go point-by-point. First, there is little reporting of the positive achievements because, well, there aren't many. No, the effort in Iraq isn't all-bad (and there's even hope), but only a hopeless optimist would say that Iraq is on the path to being the next Japan. See anon, the problems in Iraq don't have military roots, they have political roots (for example, the Sunni-Shia conflicts, or the widespread corruption). We've done nothing to solve those political problems.
Your comparisons to other countries don't follow. We kept soldiers in those areas to protect them from other countries (South Korea from North, Germany from the USSR, Japan from the PRC). Given that the Iraq problem is political and not military, who are we protecting it from? Not Iran. We don't know what Iran wants because we don't talk to them at all, and both of its neighbors are occupied by our soldiers. Because of this, Iran has little choice but to talk tough (and be woefully unable to back that up). Given that the Iranian people are notoriously pro-American, we actually could have found a great ally in Iran.
Which leads to the next point, Anon, where you said, "Remember we were attacked and the current military actions conducted by the U.S. are a result of that attack." This ignorance is precisely the thing that gives America a bad reputation. Al Qaeda attacked us--Iraq had nothing to do with it. As a matter of fact, Saddam Hussein hated bin Laden and persecuted radical Islamists. (No, that doesn't excuse Hussein's evils, but it shows that America clearly had better priorities after 9-11). That leads us to wonder, who are these "enemies" you talk about? Because we invaded Iraq on false pretenses, our "enemies" are now more widespread and less definable than al Qaeda. Your absolutist, fundamentalist mentality is the reason why America struggles in the Middle East, and the mindset you display is reciprocated by the extremists who fight against us.
You end your comment with random statistics with no logical value, but I'll address them anyways to emphasize my own point. Those issues, particularly crime, can be solved if we made it a higher priority. Engaging in the real solutions (that is, economic and diplomatic) for Iraq would make that possible. Conservatives talk about a balanced budged and reduced spending, in addition to solving other woes. But those things could actually be done if we reduced the massive military spending in Iraq. Indeed, the last time (before Clinton) that the budget was balanced was under President Johnson, during the peak of the Great Society reforms and, notably, before the Vietnam War escalated.
dear kd,
you commie pig!
I believe that i, along with all my right conservative brethren are correct, and should stand by each other in, not only the fight against terror, but the fight against liberals!
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