ANOTHER HORRIBLE MILESTONE

Today saw another Iraq milestone for Americans. The 4000th soldier died since our invasion on March 18, 2003. That brings our average to 800 dead young Americans per month since that infamous date.

In spite of all the pro-war talk about fighting for freedom, continuation of the war to avoid those deaths having been in vain, etc., etc., this nation ought to be on its knees begging the forgiveness of those families now having to go on without their sons and daughters, husbands and wives, or fathers and mothers.

We ought to be on our knees begging forgiveness from the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have lost their loved ones and the millions who must also add homelessness to the list of miseries they now suffer, too.

I know that many of those American families, especially those with a long history of military service, feel that the sacrifice is justified, and that is an honorable view fueled by devotion to country, but it is the product of emotion and not rational consideration. Such consideration is too painful when the lives of your loved ones are the price.

To Americans who continue to support this war, I ask in what way has all this bloodshed and pain protected our freedom? In the history of the world, no Iraqi has ever attacked America. In the history of the world, the only wars known to protect the freedom of a people have been their own revolutionary wars, and those few wars waged to contain a tyrant trying to take control of other nations through hostile force. We have now joined the ranks of those tyrants, and we will pay for it.

It is part of the equation that is bringing us to our economic knees. Maybe there is such a thing as divine retribution after all. If not, there ought to be. And we ought to be prepared to feel the brunt of it.

For a long time, I have deliberated over whether we should be pulling out of Iraq or whether we owe it a moral obligation of helping it rebuild because it was our actions that destroyed their infrastructure. As time goes on, though, and as the Iraqis continue their infighting, I become less and less supportive of the idea that we should offer any level of support through the presence of our troops.

For a great many Iraqis our troops are nothing more than a constant reminder of our occupation of that country. As long as they are there, they will be targets.

The administration has so successfully ballyhooed the effectiveness of the surge that the situation in Iraq doesn’t get much press any more. For a while it did seem as if it had worked, but the lull was due to many factors not the least of which was our bribing the local militias into siding with us to put the pressure on what we call Al Qaida in Iraq. They did that, and the terrorists retreated. Now the local militias are back at each others’ throats.

Yesterday saw not only the death of the 4000th American in Iraq, but also the shelling of the Green Zone, which is the only area of Iraq that has supposedly become a safe zone. According to an AP story, (Springfield News-Leader, March 24, p. 7A) that shelling was done by rival Shiite militias. Bombings were carried out in other parts of Baghdad by Sunni militias attacking Shiite targets. Obviously, even Baghdad is no longer protected by the surge.

In a nutshell that kind of sectarian infighting is the immediate future of Iraq, and as long as this kind of civil strife continues our presence there is only a thorn in the side of both factions – a thorn they see as preventing them from settling their internal scores. Those scores will have to be settled before any kind of wide-range democratic government will be effective, and there is no way for America to have a meaningful role in that settlement.

That is why I think we should pull out. Iraqis have themselves recently called for help from the United Nations, and that is where the responsibility for future peacekeeping should reside. We are only a catalyst for more violence. We can fulfill our debt to Iraq by helping them economically, and we could afford to be generous in that support because it will not cost as much as it does for us to maintain a military presence there.

It’s time to quit waving the flags and take responsibility for our actions through non-military means. It would mean that BushCo would not achieve their goal of dominance in the Middle East, but that would only help ease the world’s enmity toward us, and if justice exists BushCo ought to be suffering a lot more losses than that.


Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi

Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR

The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle