I take the rare position regarding Iraq that i bitterly opposed going in but take the stance that we are performing an equal injustice by now pulling out.
The sad fact is that car bombings and killings are an everyday occurrence in Iraq but it is only when scores are killed that it makes any sort of headlines now.
The 72 people killed and 127 injured in a bomb blast at a Baghdad market yesterday hardly got a mention at all, as if we have pulled out now so it isn't our problem anymore.
Same as the 73 people who died in a truck bombing outside a mosque last weekend, or the string of blasts that killed 27 people across Iraq on Monday.
In April, 60 people were killed outside a Shi'ite shrine just days before twin car bomb blasts killed 51 people in Sadr City.
The facts are that it was because of us that Al Queada poured into the country to perform their carnage. Now we and the Americans have declared Iraq safe enough to leave to it's fate. That's safe?
As i have said many times before, we owe the Iraqi's. We broke their country and we should have the backbone to stay until it is fixed. Anything else is morally abhorrent.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has told Iraqis not to lose heart if insurgent attacks increase as the imminent US military draw down creeps closer but he is probably in the safest place in the country. He, nor Brown or Obama, are going to be blown to kingdom come while browsing a market and if they can just brush off the high number of deaths as 'safe', then i fear for their sanity.
Iraq is not safe, it was a duck shoot when the troops were there and it is only going to be worse when the insurgents and terrorists get a free hand to bomb and kill at their leisure. We screwed the Iraqi's twice, once going in and again when we left.
7 comments:
Lucy,
I supported the final decision to invade even though I was against the invasion for a lot of reasons. I almost think war and invasion should be a last act of desperation.
I was shocked to observe that so many Iraqis didn't really want freedom from Saddam's repression, and that they don't really respect their fellow Iraqis. They don't want democracy for all. They want democracy for their sect, and they want to repress the other sects. That is what I see in Iran as well.
The Iraqi leaders WANT US OUT now and I'm glad to comply. The injustice would be to force our continued presence when they don't want freedom, especially at the cost of our (all nations) troops lives.
I knew a couple of the troops that died in Iraq, and I've met and come to know dozens more that served (including my nephew), and another few dozen that were wounded and lost limbs. They all believe in the reason they fought (zero doubters) and they all care for the people of Iraq, but I want them out of there now because I don't believe in the people of Iraq.
We forced our power on them once. It would be another wrong to stay when they want us out. Two wrongs don't make a right.
GET OUT. GET OUT NOW.
Q
PS - Lucy, I understand your thinking, logic, and perhaps even your feelings.
So the coalition are responsible for the carnage are they, Lucy? Nothing to do with the depravity an enemy that continually bombs soft targets which are almost impossible to protect.
Or would you prefer Saddam and his psychotic sons to still be there torturing and murdering anyone who stood in their way. As I've already said polls have shown that the majority of Iraqis don't, so who are you to tell them otherwise?
And if anybody is responsible for the troop withdrawals it's the anti-war lobby supported by their friends in the media who have created a situation in which it's becoming impossible to sustain a fight against those who oppose us.
Q - An analogy if i may. A wooden hut, your house, in a wolf filled forest. I come along, kick down two of your walls and stand guard at the missing walls armed with a gun to keep the wolves away. Now, morally, would you expect me to fix the walls before i left or to just wave you goodbye and leave you and your family to the whim of the wolves?
We have, for want of a more clearer analogy, kicked down two walls of Iraq and the wolves have come in. Now, should we just go or stay until we have got rid of the wolves and fix the walls we broke?
Stan - Ask yourself how many terorists were in Iraq planting car and truck bombs prior to the invasion and then ask yourself how many are in there now. Yes, our actions are directly responsible for allowing Al Queada in to cause the carnage. To argue otherwise is folly.
Lucy, once again you're missing the point. How much STATE terrorism was there before the invasion and ask yourself how much there is now.
Also, as Ive asked before, don't you think that the Iraqis are the best judges of whether it was right to get rid of Saddam despite the hardships entailed? They have been repeatedly asked this question in a number of authoritative polls and the majority have repeatedly answered in the affirmative.
You shifted those goalposts so quick Stan that you must have risked putting your back out. YOu really are a Blair fan arn't you. You learnt well from him.
Would you prefer me to ask the 73 Iraqis killed last weekend, the 72 killed on Monday or the 13 killed yesterday if they feel any safer now? How about a straw poll among the the million plus so far?
I think i know their answer.
Do you not remember the many polls i linked to stating the opposite of what your polls said?
Re. your two questions, Lucy, the first is typically irrational, the second, typically takes no account of my answer at the time, namely that those polls asked competely different questions, which simply confirmed that the Iraqis didn't like the hardships. As I said then, who would?
Question 1 is completely valid. Just because it makes you uncomfortable, and if it doesn't then you have a problem, doesn't make it irrational.
Question 2 is showing that i can point to as many authoritative polls as you care to point to. If mine can be dismissed then the ones you continue to use are equally unworthy.
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