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Archive for the ‘Iraq’ Category

Thrash and Sink?

Ali has posted about the importance of remaining in Iraq. I find this pragmatic case against immediate departure dubious, but it is one that I held myself until a short while ago so I can understand the reasoning perfectly.

The problem with it is that the very fact that this happened shows that the presence of US troops is ineffectual. Whether the use of women unaware of what they were being used to achieve {Kant has some worth, at least: that people should be considered ends in themselves rather than a means to an end is a doctrine that could end much woe} were opted for to evade incinerating worthwhile jihadis or because it was problematic to use shifty men is something that I am not certain of but the fact remains that it did happen.

This does not really seem to be something that the US troops can avert and it would appear that they are inflaming the situation through their presence alone.

I doubt that they will mind but without the coalition presence these proxy mass murderers truly have no excuse and since our attendance appears to have no influence in terms of actual prevention this leaves the road clear, and it leads out of the country which we so thoroughly shattered.

Soldiers are ultimately trained to kill. They are not suitable for reconstruction.

Cut and Run?

I am concerned about troop withdrawals from Iraq.  I opposed the invasion in 2003 (an early display of political campaigning) and still believe it was wrong to invade when we did in the way we did.  However, that does not come close to justifying fleeing the scene of the crime.  We will leave few established authority structures in place in Iraq, and the general population will be subject to militant anarchy.  The suicide bombings may be a response to occupying forces, but it is naive in the highest to pretend that fewer bombs will be detonated if the troops leave.

There are no easy solutions to Iraq, but it seems very clear that a quick get-away will do far more damage to the global community than some form of rebuilding.  In a country where remote detonators are used to explode bombs attached to mentally disabled women, the mere notion of “law and order” is a sick joke.  Leaving Iraq in chaos is a cowardly response: Lady Macbeth may scrub her hands all she likes, but the damned spot will not wash away.