Facing Facts on Iraq
Facing Facts on Iraq
The New York Times
Sunday 24 September 2006
While Iraq is a central issue in this year’s election campaigns, there is very little clear talk about what to do, beyond vague recommendations for staying the course or long-term timetables for withdrawal. That is because politicians running for election want to deliver good news, and there is nothing about Iraq - including withdrawal scenarios - that is anything but ominous.
In the real Iraq, armed Shiite and Kurdish parties have divided up the eastern two-thirds of the country, leaving Sunni insurgents and American marines to fight over the rest. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and his “national unity cabinet” stretch out their arms to like-thinking allies like Iran and Hezbollah, but barely lift a finger to rein in the sectarian militias and death squads spreading terror across Baghdad and the Shiite south.
The civilian death toll is now running at roughly 100 a day, with many of the victims gruesomely tortured with power tools or acid. Over the summer, more Iraqi civilians died violent deaths each month than the number of Americans lost to terrorism on Sept. 11. Meanwhile, the electricity remains off, oil production depressed, unemployment pervasive and basic services hard to find.
Iraq is today a broken, war-torn country. Outside the relatively stable Kurdish northeast, virtually every family - Sunni or Shiite, rich or poor, powerful or powerless - must cope with fear and physical insecurity on an almost daily basis. The courts, when they function at all, are subject to political interference; street-corner justice is filling the vacuum. Religious courts are asserting their power over family life. Women’s rights are in retreat.
Growing violence, not growing democracy, is the dominant feature of Iraqi life. Every Iraqi knows this. Americans need to know it too.
Beyond the futility of simply staying the course lies the impossibility of keeping the bulk of American ground forces stationed in Iraq indefinitely. They have already been there for 42 months, longer than it took the United States to defeat Hitler. The strain is undermining the long-term strength of the Army and Marines, threatening to divert the National Guard from homeland security and emboldening Iran and North Korea. Yet with the military situation deteriorating, the Pentagon has had to give up any idea of significant withdrawals this year, or for that matter anytime in the foreseeable future.
If there is still a constructive way out of this disaster, it has to begin with some truth-telling. Politicians are not going to press for serious solutions when their constituents have not been prepared to understand what the real options are. Republicans will not talk about genuine alternatives as long as their supporters have been primed to believe victory is possible. Few Democrats will advocate anything that might wind up transferring responsibility for this awful mess to them.
Acknowledging the hard facts of today’s Iraq must be more than a political talking point for the president’s opponents. It is the only possible beginning to a serious national discussion about what kind of American policy has the best chance of retrieving whatever can still be retrieved in Iraq and minimizing the damage to wider American interests.
Wow, we’ve really made a mess over there. Surely there isn’t anyone who really still thinks bombing Iraq was a good idea.
Longer than it took the United States to defeat Hitler? Since when did we single handedly jump into World War II and defeat Hitler on our own? I thought there was more than just us involved in that fight.
I kind of wish this article was more in depth as to how these factions worked before the war, though. Of course Saddam was in control, but its not like that means there was simple peace in that country before we invaded. Is it worse now than it was? This article says yes, and I’m not inclined to argue, but it shows no reason why its worse. It simply states that it is bad over there. How about a big, “DUH!” for the writer.
Who here simply expected the already warring factions in this country, who were opposed to democracy before would just sit by and not attempt to gain control for themselves? What? No hands?
It took the United States years of war, and infighting to break into a true democracy, yet we seem to think that because Iraq didn’t break out in song and dance after we removed a tyrannical dictator, its been a total failure.
The article does make a good point - most people in America have this strange notion that we were going in, removing Saddam, putting up a democratic government, and withdrawing; and they seem to think that this would be quick and painless. Unfortunately, most Americans seem to think that the news is infalible because they got it from their favorite source. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a good source of news in forever as most of it releases garbage that is written to present the writer’s personal views, or even the news group’s personal views. I haven’t seen many articles lately that I couldn’t place in the editorial category, because they’re all pretty much, Iraq Sucks - It’s All Bush’s Fault, or Iraq Sucks - Let’s Blame Someone Else.
it is an editorial
Excellent, I’m glad to hear that its an editorial. I didn’t mean to rant, although it would have been nice to hear a little bit on the perspective of their views on how Iraq handled things before the war began. I know to many this seems like a severe step backwards instead of forward, but others would say that while cleaning house, you have to make things worse before they can get better. Thats not meant to be a real defense on what is happening, just trying to see things from both perspectives here, as it seems neither side tends to lean towards the idea that things are not as black and white, cut and paste as anyone would like, and there doesn’t seem to be any real clear action that can take us to where we all really want to be - essentially peace. I definately like the premise of the last couple of paragraphs here as they push for a real solution through the use of debate and the relevance of truth in the discussion. It is definately true that, although everyone is willing to trash talk the other side, most don’t want to offer real solutions as they are either unsure of a clear solution, or they are afraid of the backlash they’ll get and the blame will turn to fall on them.