Yes

by Dale Hoskin

Created on: September 19, 2007

Should The U.S. Pull Out Its Troops Regardless of Whether Iraq Is Ready To Defend Its People.

The question, as posed, is disingenuous. Hidden within its words lurks a rather large straw man. I refer to the notion that Iraq will ever be able to defend its people. It presupposes that Iraq and an Iraqi people now exist that need defending. It is not entirely clear that either exist in any meaningful way.

Before you say huh and stare at me in bewilderment let me explain.

Iraq is an artificial country. Forged together from three distinct tribes, against their will, and despite long standing distrust of each other, it has existed less than eighty years. As one comedian once put it' "Paul Newman is eight years older than Iraq." As a result, there is no strong sense of national identity. The people of the region self identify as Shiite, Sunni or Kurdish. They do not consider themselves members of an Iraqi nation and each certainly does not view the other two as fellow citizens. It isn't just that they have competing religious visions, they have different economic and social ones as well.

Not unlike Yugoslavia, under Tito, they existed as a nominal country only under the heavy hand of a brutal dictator. Remove the dictator, remove the glue. Which is precisely what we have done.

The result of our invasion has been to unleash these long held grievances. The Shiite, hungry for power, now seek retribution against the minority Sunni. They in turn seek a return to power fearing their minority status will relegate them to permanent second class citizenship. Finally the Kurds, who want nothing to do with either of the other two groups is quietly going about the business of laying the groundwork for an independent nation.

All the while our soldiers find themselves caught in the middle of a growing civil war.

Let's take a moment to discuss our soldiers. These brave men and women won this war in record time, toppling Saddam Hussein in just three weeks. Everything that has transpired in the four and one-half years since has been as a result of the unbelievable incompetence of the Bush Administration. Let us review.

The failed to protect the crucial infrastructure, choosing only to guard the oil ministry, while water and electric systems were destroyed. They immediately disbanded the Iraqi Army, robbing the nation of a ready made security force and supplying a steady stream of recruits to the insurgency.

When wide spread looting broke out, the U.S. stood by and did nothing. Local militias were quickly formed to fill this security gap and we have been paying the price of our failure ever since. All this time Bush told us stay the course, we're turning the corner. By my count Bush has told us this "we're turning the corner" nonsense at least a dozen times. I don't know about you, but to me, that means we're going in circles.

This incompetence has led us to this point. The country is in the midst of a civil war. Most Iraqis view us as part of the problem, not the solution. Increasingly the puppet government we installed is showing a disturbing inability to govern. And recent actions by the U.S. military are making the situation worse and more dangerous.

I refer to the situation in the And-bar province. The Bush administration is quick to claim that the Sunni leadership has turned on Al Qaeda which, in their mind, proves the success of their strategy. I beg to differ. What is actually taking place is a variation of the old adage, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Sunni leadership has made a calculated decision to temporarily align itself with the U.S. because of two factors. First, they genuinely dislike Al Qaeda. Secondly, and more importantly, we are bribing them with arms and money. Not even the most trusting of observers can believe this is anything but a temporary accommodation.

It has also created unintended consequences. The Shiites, alarmed at this arming of their natural enemies is turning to Iran for support. In essence, both we and the Iranians have decided to fight a proxy war and both sides have pretty much said the Iraqi population be damned.

And lest you be deluded into thinking that we are still there to bring democracy to the region, consider this: in the past few days private contractors (mercenaries) working for Blackwater Corporation, hired by the United States Government, were involved in a firefight where at least eight Iraqi civilians were killed. The Iraqi government ordered their license to be revoked, only to learn this company doesn't require a license to operate in the country and further they are not subject to Iraqi law. In other words, mercenaries paid by the U.S. government have carte blanche to operate in a foreign government and this "sovereign" nation can't do a damn thing about it.

And if you still think Bush is concerned about "supporting our troops" consider also that these mercenaries, hired to do the work normally done by soldiers, are paid approximately three times as much as a member of our armed forces. Consider also that the ratio between soldier and mercenary is virtually 1 to 1. In other words, we have 160,000 troops and we have 160,000 paid contractors. And people wonder why the war is costing so much.

Speaking of cost, in four and one-half years of war we have lost almost four thousand of our best and brightest, 30,000 additional wounded, approximately 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died, two million (one tenth the population) has fled the country, another two million have been displaced within the country, most of the middle class (doctors, lawyers, managers) have left, and we are approaching one trillion dollars in cost to the U.S. taxpayer.

The result of this massive investment in life, limb and dollars?

A desperate situation that worsens every day. An administration that cannot be counted on to tell us the truth about anything. A United States becoming further isolated in the world. A growing militancy in the Islamic world as they bear witness to our incompetence and malice, and a rising toll both here and in Iraq.

Not only should we leave and let the Iraqi's sort it out for themselves, we should bring our troops home and (to reassure them that nothing like this will ever happen again) we should immediately hold those responsible to account. We can't wait for history to be the judge. For these crimes, committed in the name of the American people, we need a real judge.

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