No Good Answers for Iraq
Five years ago, we were sold an Iraqi war to protect us from weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell went to the U.N. and shredded what reputation he had with his shameful litany of non-existent WMD. Despite solid evidence to the contrary, and weapons inspectors working to deal with what WMD may have been present without resorting to war, we as a nation took the wrong path.
After the depleted uranium laden dust settled, and it was obvious to everyone except the hallucinating right wing that there were no WMD in Iraq, sane people questioned why we were still there. The answers came: We would bring democracy to Iraq. If we leave, there will be chaos, civil war, and disintegration of Iraqi civil society. So we stayed. Still, the Iraqi government is not functioning, and though elections may have been held, it is not meaningful to call a non functioning government democratic. We stayed, and still Iraq descended into chaos, civil war, and a disintegrating civil society.
Now, after a year of a surging violence and languishing reconciliation, we are faced with the same situation in Iraq. Last year's answers are untenable. What do we have to chew on this year?
"There are no good answers."
That phrase is the euphemism for "stay the course" preferred by gutless wonders of both parties. The implied meaning is it doesn't matter what we do, so let us handle it.
A more meaningful expansion of "there are no good answers..." is "Iraq will be a mess whatever policy we follow". That is certainly true. However, it is certainly also not an argument for continuing the policies that created the debacle, and it is not an argument for making things worse.
Maybe there are no good answers. But let's hear all the answers, so we can decide which are bad and which are worse. Then, we can do what 80% of Iraqis want us to do, which is get the hell out of Iraq.
After the depleted uranium laden dust settled, and it was obvious to everyone except the hallucinating right wing that there were no WMD in Iraq, sane people questioned why we were still there. The answers came: We would bring democracy to Iraq. If we leave, there will be chaos, civil war, and disintegration of Iraqi civil society. So we stayed. Still, the Iraqi government is not functioning, and though elections may have been held, it is not meaningful to call a non functioning government democratic. We stayed, and still Iraq descended into chaos, civil war, and a disintegrating civil society.
Now, after a year of a surging violence and languishing reconciliation, we are faced with the same situation in Iraq. Last year's answers are untenable. What do we have to chew on this year?
"There are no good answers."
That phrase is the euphemism for "stay the course" preferred by gutless wonders of both parties. The implied meaning is it doesn't matter what we do, so let us handle it.
A more meaningful expansion of "there are no good answers..." is "Iraq will be a mess whatever policy we follow". That is certainly true. However, it is certainly also not an argument for continuing the policies that created the debacle, and it is not an argument for making things worse.
Maybe there are no good answers. But let's hear all the answers, so we can decide which are bad and which are worse. Then, we can do what 80% of Iraqis want us to do, which is get the hell out of Iraq.
posted by Tommy Times at 2:31 PM
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