An Imploding Iraq
As usual, Robert Fisk provides an outstanding commentary on the situation in Iraq.
Recently, the United Kingdom's Commons foreign affair committee reported that Iraq is now Al Qeada's battleground, and that Afghanistan is ready to implode. Once again, the heavy-handed warmongering of the Western elites has managed to turn a sad situation into one that is immensely worse.
What is now to be done in Iraq? The Bush administration already have their sights set on Iran... Iraq is being pushed off of the political radar as the body-count rises ever higher and the bloodshed grows ever more bitter. John Kerry has said that he will send no more troops to Iraq... undoubtedly a popular move, but perhaps not the right move.
We went into Iraq. We never should have... it was all but guaranteed from the start to be a disaster. It doesn't give much of a buzz to be able to say 'we told you so' when so many are dying every single day. We went into Iraq. It was an illegitimate war that was sold under false presences. It was an illegal war that was conducted with mind-numbing arrogance and indiscriminate brutality. And yet, now that so much damage has been done, we cannot leave Iraq. To do so is to condemn the innocents to further misery and pain. Like it or not, we have to be in Iraq for the long-haul.
Only by removing the United States from operational control can we hope to win the hearts and minds. Only by dismantling the coalition-appointed government can we hope to convince the Iraqis that we genuinely want them to have their say in how their country is to be governed. The climate in Iraq is such that the current Allawi cabinet is seen by many in the same way we in the West viewed Vichy France - an occupied country being managed by collaborators. Of course, giving the Iraqi people their choice may very well lead to an Islamic theocracy... but perhaps it won't. In either case, we cannot enforce a democracy from without and hope for it to be stable... the desire must come from within.
The United Nations is not a perfect institution. It is only as effective as the Security Council allows it to be. It is weak. It is riddled with bureaucracy. It is impotent in the face of the terrorist nations that hold veto powers. But only with a genuine multi-national force can we hope to bring peace to Iraq... only with a true coalition (rather than the rather sad procession that makes up the current coalition of the willing) under United Nations control can we start to bring stability to the region.
Recently, the United Kingdom's Commons foreign affair committee reported that Iraq is now Al Qeada's battleground, and that Afghanistan is ready to implode. Once again, the heavy-handed warmongering of the Western elites has managed to turn a sad situation into one that is immensely worse.
What is now to be done in Iraq? The Bush administration already have their sights set on Iran... Iraq is being pushed off of the political radar as the body-count rises ever higher and the bloodshed grows ever more bitter. John Kerry has said that he will send no more troops to Iraq... undoubtedly a popular move, but perhaps not the right move.
We went into Iraq. We never should have... it was all but guaranteed from the start to be a disaster. It doesn't give much of a buzz to be able to say 'we told you so' when so many are dying every single day. We went into Iraq. It was an illegitimate war that was sold under false presences. It was an illegal war that was conducted with mind-numbing arrogance and indiscriminate brutality. And yet, now that so much damage has been done, we cannot leave Iraq. To do so is to condemn the innocents to further misery and pain. Like it or not, we have to be in Iraq for the long-haul.
Only by removing the United States from operational control can we hope to win the hearts and minds. Only by dismantling the coalition-appointed government can we hope to convince the Iraqis that we genuinely want them to have their say in how their country is to be governed. The climate in Iraq is such that the current Allawi cabinet is seen by many in the same way we in the West viewed Vichy France - an occupied country being managed by collaborators. Of course, giving the Iraqi people their choice may very well lead to an Islamic theocracy... but perhaps it won't. In either case, we cannot enforce a democracy from without and hope for it to be stable... the desire must come from within.
The United Nations is not a perfect institution. It is only as effective as the Security Council allows it to be. It is weak. It is riddled with bureaucracy. It is impotent in the face of the terrorist nations that hold veto powers. But only with a genuine multi-national force can we hope to bring peace to Iraq... only with a true coalition (rather than the rather sad procession that makes up the current coalition of the willing) under United Nations control can we start to bring stability to the region.
1 Comments:
Robert Fisk has been a longtime Middle East correspondent spanning decades... his book Pity The Nation is about the civil (and not-so-civil) wars in Lebanon. I highly recommend it, his writing is just fantastic.
Always an informative read!
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