Iraq and the Leader of the Free World....
Watching both GWB and Rumsfeld over the last couple of days explaining that the situation is Iraq is slowly improving etc etc I realised that caught up in my own little world I have given very little time over to following the state of the Iraq nation and the ongoing state of the 'war' (regardless of GWB saying that the war is over...in my opinion it isn't).
This morning I wake up to a long post from Spike and an even longer rebuttal from James Burnham. Both have very strong opinions and both have points that I accept and disagree strongly with, I am not going to go into a huge spiel here...suffice to say, my thoughts are as follows...
1)I believe that the invading forces seriously underestimated the violence with which they would be met after the war was technically over, there didn't seem to be a logical plan other than 'go in, get rid of Saddam and then rebuild'.
2)I believe that eventually the average Iraqi will be better off than he was under Saddam, democracy and freedom of speech (when they can excercise it fully) will be a welcome relief after the Ba'athist regime.
3)I think that GWB's motives were not necessarily to rid the Iraqis of their dictator so they could all live a free and happy life...I think oil was involved...(James, I think America is looking long term not just one years value), democracy is definitely one way to win the war against terrorism and as such Iraq is well placed geographically to secure that sweep of influence across the Middle East...if GWB was looking at ridding the world of dictators...there are many other countries he could look at - however, not all of them have oil or can influence the fight against world terrorism.
4)It makes me intensely angry when people counting the cost of life...only measure it in American lives...please remember, there are other nationalities involved here - not least the Iraqis who have suffered a huge loss of life amongst their citizens..., plus other nations' armed forces, aid workers....the list goes on.
5)Now that the powers that be have invaded and turned the average Iraqi's world upside down they cannot and must not pull out now and just leave them to the present 'unholy' mess...we went in, we made a mess...it is up to us now to clear up the mess. Even if the Americans, Brits et al, pull out...the bombings will continue..these bombings are not so much anti-American as anti-free world and anti-democracy (granted, the definition lines are a little blurred at present).
The Middle East is a part of the world that is very close to my heart...and given its natural beauty, hospitality of its people and the history involved in that region...I can think of nothing more attractive than a free, democratic and peaceful Middle East region...however, I can only hope and dream it will happen in my life time.
Apologies...I waffled!! On a much lighter note, but still staying with the US, on this day in 1963...JFK informed the world he was a jelly doughnut....or did he?!
This morning I wake up to a long post from Spike and an even longer rebuttal from James Burnham. Both have very strong opinions and both have points that I accept and disagree strongly with, I am not going to go into a huge spiel here...suffice to say, my thoughts are as follows...
1)I believe that the invading forces seriously underestimated the violence with which they would be met after the war was technically over, there didn't seem to be a logical plan other than 'go in, get rid of Saddam and then rebuild'.
2)I believe that eventually the average Iraqi will be better off than he was under Saddam, democracy and freedom of speech (when they can excercise it fully) will be a welcome relief after the Ba'athist regime.
3)I think that GWB's motives were not necessarily to rid the Iraqis of their dictator so they could all live a free and happy life...I think oil was involved...(James, I think America is looking long term not just one years value), democracy is definitely one way to win the war against terrorism and as such Iraq is well placed geographically to secure that sweep of influence across the Middle East...if GWB was looking at ridding the world of dictators...there are many other countries he could look at - however, not all of them have oil or can influence the fight against world terrorism.
4)It makes me intensely angry when people counting the cost of life...only measure it in American lives...please remember, there are other nationalities involved here - not least the Iraqis who have suffered a huge loss of life amongst their citizens..., plus other nations' armed forces, aid workers....the list goes on.
5)Now that the powers that be have invaded and turned the average Iraqi's world upside down they cannot and must not pull out now and just leave them to the present 'unholy' mess...we went in, we made a mess...it is up to us now to clear up the mess. Even if the Americans, Brits et al, pull out...the bombings will continue..these bombings are not so much anti-American as anti-free world and anti-democracy (granted, the definition lines are a little blurred at present).
The Middle East is a part of the world that is very close to my heart...and given its natural beauty, hospitality of its people and the history involved in that region...I can think of nothing more attractive than a free, democratic and peaceful Middle East region...however, I can only hope and dream it will happen in my life time.
Apologies...I waffled!! On a much lighter note, but still staying with the US, on this day in 1963...JFK informed the world he was a jelly doughnut....or did he?!
posted by Madame Chiang at 11:56 am
4 Comments:
I have to say that I like your post since so many people get totally lost when thinking about tactical vs. strategic battles and issues. I have been to check point Charlie twice, the ifrst time was only a cou[ple of years from the fall of Berlin Wall when there were still tens if not hundreds of thousand of Russian troops still on the old Eastern side.
Then thing that struck me the most was a picture of a soldier standing at attention looking to to the Eastern side staring down the Russian soldiers. This happened day-after-day for years. It still brings tears to my eyes and slight flutter in my stomach to think of the toe-to-toe battle that was fought against the Russians for decades....without shots being fired.
thanks for the comment.
I realise that I did not really comment on the specifics, however knowing quite a few Iraqis and having sat and watched the Allied forces bombing the hell of Baghdad with these same Iraqis and knowing that their families were somewhere in there is difficult.......hence I genuinely have very mixed feelings on the origins and reasons for starting the war...however I do have strong feelings that we cannot now leave them in the lurch.
I was living in Hamburg when the Berlin wall fell...it was the most amazing time....talk about a good excuse for a party!
I never really needed an excuse for a party. Any old reason will do!
Pretty worthwhile piece of writing, much thanks for the post.
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