call
I have lots of ordinary and amusing (to me) items I've been meaning to write about, but for today, I only have one thought that I can't ignore. We have to stop this unjust war. The surge didn't work. 100 surges won't work. There is no "plan B" that can resolve what began four years ago.
Instead of finger pointing as to how we got here as a nation, we have to start the process of getting out of Iraq. We have to use diplomatic means to resolve the civil war that we've helped to create. There are no easy solutions. No easy answers. But the first step is to start the process of removing our troops.
Please take two minutes from your day and call the President. Tell him to sign the bill that Congress has sent him.
212-456-1111
This is not a reality show. This is not entertainment. This is not about proving something. Tell him.
Comments
I have mixed feelings about the withdrawal situation. I firmly believe we never should have gone in the first place; and that we caused unbelievable harm in doing so. Since we had no reason for being there in the first place at first glance it makes sense that we should get out post haste. But by invading and causing the mess that we did, we have some kind of responsibility to the people there. There is a huge danger in leaving with the situation as volatile as it is. My biggest concern involves how helpless Iraq would be to foreign (Iran) influence (invasion/takeover.) Security, health, infrastructure and education are things that are much worse now as a direct result of our meddling.
That said, I really feel for our troops and how they have been misused in this foolish exercise by our fearless (dumb) leader. The sacrifices they have paid for putting their trust in the Bush administration is really tragic. The perversion of "defending our freedom" that Bush did with his fabricated reasons for invading Iraq makes it doubly tragic that they are still there.
I was reading an article about how Iraq is still paying reparations to other countries and corporations for Saddam's invasion of Kuwait (the first Gulf War.) Who is going to force the US to pay reparations to Iraq, because it seems obvious to me that we should. How ironic would that be if we ended up paying war reparations to Iraq after we completely withdraw and Iraq sets up a theocratic fundamentalist Islamic government that really does sponsored state terrorism? The invasion and withdrawal of Iraq could create the exact situation Bush "claimed" he was trying to stop; Iraq as a terrorism sponsoring state. Would that be irony?
I don't agree with why Bush is opposed to troop withdrawal, his mismanagement of this whole situation is criminal. But I also am not convinced that our only move is to withdraw our troops immediately. I would feel better about our troop withdrawal if there was some other way of bettering the situation in Iraq before we left. Bush's goal for being in Iraq is not to make the situation better or more secure for the Iraqi's (see the last link I provided below with more information on this...) So I don't see how Bush's leadership is going to improve the situation. But really believe we have a moral obligation to the Iraqi people to improve the situation there before we leave.
I guess the point is moot now, since Bush vetoed the bill and the Dem's don't have enough votes to override it. I really think Joe Biden has the right idea on how to deal with the Iraq situation; part of which is to break up Iraq into 3 districts and giving each autonomy in some kind of confederation. There may be other things that can be done that Bush is not doing to stabilize Iraq enough for us to withdraw. I think they should be tried for the sake of Iraq and the mess we caused by invading in the first place.
Here is the link to the article about war reparations and Iraq, along with a couple others. The last one is a huge article and will take a while to read, but it has some very interesting insights into why Bush lead us into Iraq and what happened after.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1328887,00.html
http://vcnv.org/war-reparations-iraq-questions-answers
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2004/09/0080197
>>Since we had no reason for being there in the first place at first glance it makes sense that we should get out post haste.
My comment was to "start the process of getting out." Not to cut bait and run. We destroyed a country. Destroyed it. Turned parts of it into worse than living conditions in many 3rd world nations.
Watch this documentary and then we can talk.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/30/dispatches-from-iraq-the-womens-story/
Our government, without thinking, pushed Iraq into a civil war. We are partly responsibly every time a Shite kills a Sunni and when a Sunni kills a Shite.
At some point, the US will have to pay war reperations. We decimated that country. And that money will be channeled to some terrrorist organizations. Just like some of our tax dollars are channeled to paid mercenaries like Blackwater.
There are no easy answers, but sitting in the middle of this civil war, just trying to keep our troops alive does nothing. We have a fighting force with no mission (or ever changing missions), so the goal line is never reached.
First it was to oust Saddam and stop the nukes. Well, Saddam's dead and there never was any nukes. Then it was to establish the first democratic (temporary congress) and vote. Then it was to establish the permanent government. The "benchmarks" never end.
Our soilders don't know what their mission is anymore. Beyond the general concept of "liberating Iraq" or "bringing democracy.
I don't know if you've seen any video from Iraq (made by Iraqis), but they would rather have us out and deal with what shakes out then have us there.
What I'm saying is that, not only is the damage done, there's going to be more damage coming in the next 3-5 years for Iraq, period. We need to listen to the Iraqis and support that, instead of deciding what they need. (And I'm not talking about the zealots - I'm talking about the citizens.)