The War in Iraq: What Has Gone Wrong, What is at Stake, and What Must Be Done to Win.

On March 20, 2003 President George W. Bush made a grim announcement to the American people, that "American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger." At the time Americans were still upset over what had happened on September 11, 2001 and the administration as well as the CIA recognized Saddam Hussein as a legitimate threat, as a carrier of weapons of mass destruction, a ruthless tyrant, a shameless war monger, and a sponsor of al-Qaeda. Now why I may reserve my own views on the al-Qaeda and the weapons of mass destruction reasonings, it is not hard to imagine how easily an audience would bite at this information. I mean honestly, the man had been an enemy of America ever since the George H.W Bush administration invaded Iraq in 1991. I have argued again and again how and why I support this war, my opponents argue this was a war based on deceptive reasoning, an inadequately planned one, and one with considerable consequences in the future. Some argue that we should withdraw immediately, while others flamboyantly support the Iraqi insurgency. I am here today to prove those points false to the best of my abilities, civilly and effectively of course, but my message to all here is more than that. To understand the culture and background of Iraq, to recognize what went wrong and how it can be fixed, and for everyone to remember what this war means to America, our allies, and the Iraqis our soldiers are dieing to protect.

How much does the average American know about Iraq? I'm going to guess not that much, since our schools do a poor job of teaching students of worldly affairs and peoples. Well to know Iraq, one must know that not only is it the birthplace of modern civilization, that it holds some of the most holy and revered sites in the history of Islam and Western religion in general, that it has a lingering conservative outlook in most of the country, and that it has been plagued with civil strife, tyrants, and imperialist colonization by the British since Baghdad was once considered the crown jewel of one of the most brilliant empires in history. The mentality of many Muslims in Iraq is one of devout faith, ingrained patriotism, political conservatism, and disdain for many of the Western powers, including America, who have abandoned them when justice was needed most. America, being a non-Muslim nation, occupying one of the most revered countries of the old Islamic Empire was a shock to many in the Middle East. While so many cheered as the statue of Saddam was brought down, others cursed in disgust at how a Western power smashed the armies of a strongman who had brutalized his country for over two decades and then occupied a Muslim nation with largely Christian soldiers. It's not that Muslims hate Americans, but how would we Americans feel if a Muslim nation invaded and occupied Canada or Mexico based on the same premises?

We wouldn't like it that's for sure, but many Iraqis at the beginning embraced the fall of Hussein, while most now look bitterly at the challenges their new nation faces ahead. But to detail an example of conservatism in Iraq, one must look at al-Fallujah ("The City of Mosques" as it is locally known) as a pre-war example of a very conservative society. When theaters, music shops, or stores selling pornography were opened by the Hussein regime they were destroyed. When Saddam Hussein invited a prominent tribal leader from the Al-Anbar area to his palace and had exotic Egyptian belly dancers show up, the night ended in bloody violence, where bodyguards for both men were killed or wounded. We Americans tend to view this type of society as "backwards" in a derogatory way, as if the Iraqis feel the same way. There is a tendency for us Americans to look down on Iraqis and Arabs, not always in an "intentionally racist" type of way, but because, in the modern world, we Americans are raised spoiled and lots of us have a warped view on what the world is today. I don't view anyone in this manner because the more I've read about Iraq, the more a realize what a fascinating and historical country it is. But let me give you all a little example of this ingrained hypocrisy and exceptionalism in this country. When Saddam Hussein launched one of the most disgusting acts of human genocide in history in the "al-Alfal Campaign" during the 1980's, to exterminate Kurdish populouses from an area, where were the protests? Where was the massive demonstrations and the American outcry for it? Not to be found when compared to the much less costly war today. Many people will march in swarms in suburbs and cities to protest the war, some people devote large chunks of their days to updating their anti-war blog site, or rambling on in extra cirricular activities about how wrong and costly the war is. Yet I guarantee you all, if you go and ask the average high school political activist (of whom have a large audience on the web) about how many people Saddam Hussein killed, you will get answers like "a couple thousand", "I don't know, but he was bad I guess", or "he was a tool of American imperialism so it doesn't matter" for a response. The facts are, most Americans know next to nothing about Iraq or the Middle East in general, and that isn't their fault, because they aren't taught it in schools. But some like to think that because they have an opinion, they are automatically right and must shout it out from the highest beacon of the tallest building, even if they don't know jack about what they speak of.

What went wrong? Lots of critical and tactical objectives that should have been completed, but these incidences vary in circumstance. Let's start with misfires and collateral damage, which goes alongside with almost any war in history. Take Fallujah for example, American and Iraqi soldiers fought exceptionally that day against an almost suicidal enemy, determined to kill as many soldiers as they could, and won. But there was extremely heavy damage in Fallujah, estimates go as high as sixty percent of all buildings were damaged or destroyed, and reconstruction is still underway. More errors include insufficient planning for a guerilla conflict, including adapted urban warfare training in advance of operations, better equipment coming late, and the sloppiness of the Iraqi forces at first. We must also look at errors by officers to stop troop misbehavior and downright atrocious behavior. Such as seen in Abu Ghraib prison, which undermined the largely honest and tough fighting troops there doing their job right. Actions by some individual troops, including the harassment, un-informed raids, and other nit picky things that just make people not like others in general.

And lastly the cost of the war, which is less than three percent of the American gross domestic product thus far (250 billion), and some of the money could have been managed better. But high costs are to be expected when a country is not only fighting insurgents, occupying a country, and rebuilding infastructure at the same time. These errors can be corrected relatively simply in planning, but requires definitive action to correct. Better intelligence on the ground (more agents, better equipment, etc...) is the first step in correcting misfires and empty but intrusive raids, as well as weakening collaterral damage and minimizing soldier risk. Iraqi forces have increased by leaps and strides since then, with the IAF getting its first jets and helicopters, armoured brigades rolling in, which were purchased from Hungary, and a determined and increasingly effective band of soldiers. Adapting to guerilla warfare has already been corrected, the military has organized tactics for protecting vehicles and training troops for door to door combat. There are now bigger problems with militia infiltration of the Iraqi police and ethnic fighting. The first step is for the unity government to bring Iraqis together, the next step is for American forces to keep re-building, as the Iraqis want an increase in their standard of living, and the U.S has the money and power to re-build as well as upgrade Iraqi civilian infastructure. Never kid yourself into thinking they are unfixable just because FOX or CNN start talking about militia violence in Iraq as if it was a new thing, or because the New York Times or the National Review start talking about civil war with different perspectives because of low grade violence heating up after the Sammara bombings in February. These problems are very real, and fixable, the problem is the mainstream media is too busy hyping up everything good or bad about one aspect of the war, constantly missing the big picture.

All one needs to look at to know exactly what is at stake in this war is to look at the Iraqi population, their current conditions, and the people that are delibrately murdering them for self gain. The average American family rakes in roughly 41,000 dollars per year. Now compare that with the average Iraqi household making 3,500 dollars anually. Reconstruction on several water treatment plants and power facilities have been completed and are underway. Hopefully this will improve their quality of life and help strengthen communities, but there is so much work to be done that it is a farce to think Iraq will be cured of poverty or war overnight.

The men American, Iraqi, and Coalition forces fight now is an ignorant, barbarous, but absolutely relentless enemy. They include the scattered and various "Sunni" insurgencies, the Fedayeen loyalists, and al-Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers. These are men so merciless, so vile, that they would try and bomb places of worship and civilian gatherings, decapitate and execute innocent impeople as "Israeli spies", and try and destroy construction for the basic life giving necessities that the civilian population needs to survive. I want to ask everyone here who supports an immediate and complete withdrawal of all 138,000 troops in Iraq one simple question? Are you willing to support a decision that would leave tens of millions of innocent people to die at the mercy of these mad men, and if so, will you take full, complete, responsibility for what happens post withdrawal?

In conclusion, this war is a fundamental example of a spoiled developed country at war, with people screaming about things they haven't the slightest clue of. Whether it be the ignorant right winger singing a patriotic song to justify their argument, or an ignorant left winger screaming imperialism and "Vietnam II", ignorance has already started to degrade the level of intellectual debate in this country, and that is part of the reason that discussing Iraq today can be so boring or annoying.

Most know that I am a supporter of the president, and a supporter of this war from the very beginning, but what people don't see is based on pragmatic conservatism. Which does not coincide with the reasoning of George Bush for the war, nor does it entertain those against it. I believe we as Americans should learn from the many mistakes of our country, and how many millions of innocent people had to die because Congress didn't have the brains or the steel to commit to a conflict we involve ourselves in. Whether it was in Vietnam (which I oppose btw), Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, Somalia, The First Gulf War, and Haiti, we have seen our politicians fail humanity when we had the resources and the power to act. I don't believe people who murder hundreds of thousands of their own people should remain in control of their country's, nor do I believe any truly "democratic" nation should ever welcome them as an ally. They are enemies of freedom, and enemies of the human race, and to let them go, to let them reign hell on their peoples, and selfishly think little but pity of it, is disgustingly hypocritical to what the rebels who fought for American independance stood for, or what we as Americans stand for today. We stood for a nation, free of opression, where people could speak their minds without being jailed or killed for it, where people could live their lives in harmony and equality while still allowing people to make their living freely. Where has our identity gone? We are a nation of mixed peoples but most of us came here for opportunity and to lead a better life. Yet thousands of miles away, some Iraqi man is desperately trying to hide his family from the insurgents who will try to murder them, some child from Burma is being forcably armed into the military, and someone in Eithiopia is trying to find whatever scraps of food they can to survive. We as Americans must stand up and denounce tyranny and poverty, wherever it may arise or linger, and we must actively fight these horrible facts of 21st Century life, that's how I've always felt. Withdrawing from Iraq now would ne nothing less than yet another faliure of humans to act when others needed it most, and those who fought for a withdrawal will look at the suffering and have nobody to blame but themselves.

Well, here it is, I've been away for a little while, but here is a political essay I wrote, let me know what you all think. :)

Our enemies have too many enablers in this country - I tell the liberals, "you bastards just couldn't hang together with us for a couple of years before going back to dirty politics and supporting the terrorists."

HOW ABOUT SOMETHING ALONG THE LINES OF:

WHAT WENT RIGHT IN IRAQ!!

It's always that way, if Clinton ran this war they would be defending it to the grave. They didn't question Clinton's judgement when he sent 23,000 U.S troops into Haiti in 1994, and they didn't question him when he withdrew them abruptly in 1996.

They like to call our president a "warmonger" when not only have Democrats gotten involved in or started the most wars in U.S history, but Bush's predecessor had delpoyed U.S troops in military action more times than any other U.S president in history.

It's hypocrisy my friends, and when confronted with logical debate, defeatists in this country suddenly have a loss for words.

Oh don't say that CyberAnt, if you don't agree with the defeatists you are a racist, right winger, nazi, sexist, closeminded biggot.

I mean "obviously" the only way to learn anything is by taking a Sociology course, m i rite?! </sarchasm>

If the war on terrorism was not diverted into a war on Iraq, the war terror alert flag would be gone.

Well .. I'd rather be who I am than a sniveling, surrendering, deceived, demented, in denial LIBERAL!!

if Clinton ran this war they would be defending it to the grave.

Without a doubt.

"When Saddam Hussein launched one of the most disgusting acts of human genocide in history in the "al-Alfal Campaign" during the 1980's, to exterminate Kurdish populouses from an area, where were the protests?"

An American congressman travelled there right after the first attacks and witnessed them first hand. The US passed complete sanctions against Iraq within 2 days, the quickest any law has ever been passed in the country's history.

Anyway, you clearly do not know enough about the REAL history of this situation or the REAL history of Iraq to write a political essay.

I'm not talking about what Congress or the government did to Iraq, am I basically saying where were the big liberal protests when the al-Anfal Compaign broke out? Many are ready to compare the U.S in Iraq to him.

Amen. :)

I agree with many things you said, but I do not think this is a war that can be "won" in the way perhaps WW1 and 11 were. Terrorism is an entirely different war and it will continue until the enemies give up. Since their religious belief doesn't allow that, it won't stop.. What we must do is fight back with all we have every place they are found. Thanks to the left, the nation may not have the will. Another attack or two, then perhaps they will all catch on.

Yeah I agree, this is no conventional war, it must be run by textbook anti-terrorism operations, and winning the hearts and minds of moderate Muslims.

The left don't have the steel to support the war, which logically they would figure out is right, because they loathe the president. He is a Republican, Christian, pro-life, pro-Capitalist leader who isn't afraid to commit to his decisions, essentially, the left wing's worst nightmare.

I supported Clinton's intervention in Somalia and Haiti, but when he was stupid enough to withdraw prematurely from both I lost faith in him.

Are you Chinese? If so, I have to assume you are not a citizen and a potential enemy of the U.S.. Write all the essays and assimilate all you want, but do not assume that your actions are not being watched. We might seem complacent and lazy, but piss us off and we will stand for each other and not an ancient belief or dictator.

very good Xing.

Nope, I'm an American citizen, with an Irish-Ukrainian background, Xing Daorong is my pen name based ona charachter from a book I read a long time ago.

Thank you. Always good to get positive feedback. :)

If the war on terrorism was not diverted into a war on Iraq, the war terror alert flag would be gone.

Alot of aggression in this forum, but given the topic... A decent effort all in all.
However, you haven't cited any sources, which if you have used but not credited is plagarism, and if not used at all then its not a essay but a 'polemic'.
Also, its only good form to cite so we can do the background research required to make an informed decision.