Posted on 05/04/2007 7:30:22 AM PDT by shrinkermd
Iraqis: Don't Abandon Us Perhaps the debate over whether to persevere in Iraq has become too brittle to accept anyone else's opinion, but the foreign minister of Iraq gives it a game try. In today's Washington Post, Hoshyar Zebari implores Americans and the world not to abandon Iraq to the terrorists and sectarian lunatics. Zebari explains that Iraq has changed profoundly since liberation, and the media paint a distorted picture of his country:
Last weekend a traffic jam several miles long snaked out of the Mansour district in western Baghdad. The delay stemmed not from a car bomb closing the road but from a queue to enter the city's central amusement park. The line became so long some families left their cars and walked to enjoy picnics, fairground rides and soccer, the Iraqi national obsession. Across the city, restaurants are slowly filling and shops are reopening. The streets are busy. Iraqis are not cowering indoors. The appalling death tolls from suicide attacks are often high because of crowding at markets. These days you are as likely to hear complaints about traffic congestion as about the security situation. Across Baghdad there is a cacophony of sirens from ambulances, firefighters and police providing public services. You cannot even escape the curse of traffic wardens ticketing illegally parked cars.
These small but significant snippets of normality are overshadowed by acts of gross violence, which fuel the opinion of some that Iraq is in a downward spiral. The Iraqi people are indeed suffering tremendous hardships and making grave sacrifices -- but daily life goes on for 7 million Baghdadis struggling to take back their capital and country. ...
We remain determined in spite of our losses. Spectacular attacks may dominate foreign headlines, but they cannot change the reality that Iraq has made steady political, economic and social progress over the past four years. We continue to strengthen our nascent democratic institutions, pursue national reconciliation and expand Iraqi security forces. The Baghdad security plan was conceived to give us breathing space to expedite political and economic development by "securing and holding" neighborhoods across the capital. There is no quick fix, but there have been real results: Winning public confidence has led to a spike in intelligence, a disruption of terrorist networks and the capture of key leaders, as well as the discovery of weapons caches. In Anbar province, Sunni sheikhs and insurgents have turned against al-Qaeda and to the side of Iraqi security forces. This would have been unthinkable even six months ago.
Zebari's frustration is easy to understand. The Iraqis have done most of the bleeding and dying over the last four years, but they have worked hard to create a secure nation and a sense of normalcy. They have sacrificed much in that effort, when it may have cost them less in the short term to align themselves with warlords and dictators. Instead, they have trusted the West to help them through the nightmare and into a new morning for a free Iraq.
Now, just when that goal seems within reach, the world has tired of their struggle. The people in whom Iraqis placed their trust now stand at podiums and declare Iraq a lost cause, just when they see Iraq beginning to emerge from darkness and oppression. Zebari knows that all his nation has gained will be lost if his people see their allies abandon them -- and force Iraqis to come to terms with the warlords and the terrorists for their own survival.
Zebari warns what will come of Iraq and the Middle East in general if the West betrays the Iraqis. It will create a haven for terrorists of all stripes, and will spread chaos and conflict throughout Southwest Asia. It might set off a regional war between Sunni and Shi'ite states, with Baghdad as an Armageddon for Persian and Arab cultures.
The world needs a free, united, and stable Iraq, Zebari warns. It may be difficult, but the alternatives are catastrophic.
Yes it is being won. Thank heavens that Dubya has over a year and a half left as, combined with the surge, the Iraqis are getting stronger and stronger self security wise. That some of the historically warring tribes are entering treaties to combine forces against Al Qaeda is also a very good thing, albeit the mainstream media would not deign to share these facts with America. They make me physically ill some days...
Iraq has a population in excess of 30 million people. I say let’s leave 30 million AK-47s and several billion rounds of ammunition there and let those folks stand up for themselves. The U.S. could provide whatever miltiary support that it necessary to support the government (air support, logistical expertise, etc.), but there’s no way in hell U.S. troops should be functioning as police officers in a hostile Third World environment like that.
Tell that to the two leading bone-heads, Pelosi and Reid (as if they would listen).
Don’t get ill, get angry! When we have a democratic Iraq, I hope the President of Iraq will remember who was for Iraq and who was against it - and literally spits in the faces of Pelosi, Reid and their pack of traitors. Gosh, what a vision I am having now!
Giving a shop-keeper an AK-47 doesn’t give him the expertise to hunt down terrorists. President Bush told us in 2001 that this war would be very long and that the battlefields would look very different.
WE’RE NOT THROUGH IN IRAQ. FINISH THE JOB!
Oh, I am plenty angry. Indeed, I hope that I am forgiven for some thoughts I occasionally have. That said, I share your hope that the rats get their due at the end of the day...
Great article.
God Bless our troops & their families
God Bless our President
God Bless the USA
Hopefully, the last 18 months of W’s presidency will be enough to substantially finish this. God help us if Pelosi & Reid talk enough Americans into quitting...
(The News From Iraq Is Better Than the MSM Reports)
That goes without saying.
I don’t mind the bad news the DBM prints, but just throw me a bone once in a while and print something good.
Sad to say the Penagon’s new crack down on the milblogs is shutting off one more source of real news from Iraq.
I hope the President of Iraq will remember who was for Iraq and who was against it - and literally spits in the faces of Pelosi, Reid and their pack of traitors.
I’ve got the popcorn stand.
Driving around a Third World sh!t-hole in a Humvee is no way to “hunt down terrorists,” either.
The US is supporting the duly elected government of Iraq resist the efforts of a relatively small group of extremists from overthrowing it. I might add, the Iraqi security forces, military and police, have lost three times the number of KIAs than we have since the beginning of 2005. Iraqis are fighting and dying for their country. And Iraqi government officials and their families have been targetted for assassination and have been assassinated by the terrorists. They should be commended for their courage and resolve.
That's exactly my point.
I might add, the Iraqi security forces, military and police, have lost three times the number of KIAs than we have since the beginning of 2005.
Right. It's their country, after all -- isn't it?
After last night's debates, I can see it now:
Iraqis: Don't Abandon Us
President Hunter: We won't.
Or,
President Paul: So long. *is gone*
Take from it what you will. Just a random thought.
Don't get me wrong, I like Paul, but his position on Iraq is just out there.
Let me guess..Nuke em all?
The U.S. military has never been very good at half-@ssed warfare, which is exactly what's being done there now. Using U.S. Marines as a well-armed Peace Corps is a disgrace.
I posted this suggestion on another thread . . .
If it were up to me, all U.S. military personnel in Iraq would be packing up right now for an immediate shift to facilities outside populated areas. They would then carry out a limited number of functions, including: 1) combat support for Iraqi military/police personnel in roles that Iraqis can't carry out themselves (air support, for example); and 2) protection of Iraqi-led efforts to construct/reconstruct critical infrastructure.
Item #2 would most likely put U.S. troops in harm's way, but I would add an interesting angle to our work there. Once the U.S. oversees a construction project and provides protection for the duration of its development, we're done with it. And I mean DONE. If it gets blown up or sabotaged some other way the following week, then tough sh!t . . . the Iraqis can figure out a way to cope with that problem, or they can live in a sh!t-hole filled with malfunctioning/nonexistent infrastructure.
If the U.S. has to do any more than this, then Iraq isn't even worth saving under any circumstances. And I say that even if it means that "letting nature run its course" would result in the starvation of 30+ million Iraqis.
There was a great article posted here a while back about an Army officer who has had the most success in Iraq with limited casualties, and this was pretty much his approach. A group of tribal leaders came to him and complained that they had no electricity or running water in their village, so he told them that he'd bring in food and water, but only if he could get their assurances that the soldiers in his command wouldn't be attacked.
This worked for a few days, until a couple of his men were wounded or killed in an ambush. He pulled all of the people and equipment providing humanitarian aid out of the village and told them that he'd give them a week to think about it -- and that if anything like that happened again, he'd pull them out for a month. At the time the article was posted, it was indicated that he never had a problem after that.
Harry Reid hasn’t read this but, he STILL doesn’t beleive it.
RLTW
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