This is a link that was sent to me via e-mail. It's by NBC News Middle-East correspondent, Richard Engel. He attempts to give informative information regarding the complexities associated with Iraq, but I would like to see how much BTM thinks he was on target. Did he do a good job? Why or why not? I'd like to hear what everyone thinks.
-Miss G
Subscribe to this thread- Flag as offensive
- Login or register to post comments
- 134 reads
This is like a promotional piece for non-interventionalism. The West created the problem in the first place by creating Iraq, just as it later created problems by creating Israel. Remember, the problems in Yugoslavia were exactly the same - the western allies creating a nation out of smaller regions that weren't consenting to live together. If we just stayed out of their business, this would have sorted itself out long before there was a Saddam Hussein. We will never be able to leave there if we are looking to preserve the artificial borders we imposed upon these people. We should just leave and let the chips fall where they may - and learn from 100 years of interventionalist mistakes.
Tom Mullen
www.tommullen.net
www.myspace.com/skepticsongs
I don't know why we were fighting. We all say it costs a lot and that we shouldn't have gone over.
Bottom line is that we can't leave until the job is done now. We are doing great there. Don't believe the media hype about how bad it is. It was bad, it isn't cake but what is there now is similar to the America we once were. The people there want their freedom. The people there are enjoying freedoms never before experienced. The 90% of those fighting against the US and Iraqi forces are not even from Iraq(this is first hand knowledge).
If we leave now, we will be responsible for the millions that die. We made them vulnerable, now we must do what is right and finish the job. Looking back, we would have been better off keeping to our selves and spending all the money here.
We have spent the time and money to clear the land, and build the house, lets not throw it all away before we can hang the windows and get a decent return on investment.
The common people of Iraq are grateful. Do they deserve it? I don't know.
The end does not justify the means...
We absolutely made a mistake in invading Iraq. We went in on the premise of WMDs and threats of our national security.
Result - No WMDs have ever been found
Result - We invaded a country that had no appreciable navy, no method of delivering any weapons the requisite 6000 miles to threaten our borders, an air force that was buried in the sand, and an army that offered little to no resistence to our forward advances.
NOW, we remian in Iraq on the premise of a regime change, to install a democracy, and to rebuild a nation. ALL of which is none of the United States' (or the world's) business.
You state that if we leave now, we'd be responsible for millions of deaths of innocent Iraqi people - but I challenge you to understand that if Saddam Hussein remained in power, and the US maintained a Middle East presence outside of Iraq, would they not be just as threatened? Otherwise, why overthrow the regime? Furthermore, if they don't fight for their own freedoms, the responsibility lies on them.
Your sentence is very very interesting - and really argues against your stance: "The people there want their freedom. The 90% of those fighting against the US and Iraqi forces are not even from Iraq(this is first hand knowledge)."
Nobody is questioning whether the Iraqi people want their freedom. Hell, I want freedom too, and I have a system of government in place that is ALREADY supposed to grant me that -- but it doesn't work like it was designed to... Do you not find it odd that 90% of those fighting US Occupation in Iraq are from OTHER countries?!? Do you see Canadians defending the US/Mexico border from the illegal invasion occurring there? If the people are not willing to stand up and fight to EARN their freedom, then do they deserve what they want? Does a young, 16 year old girl who made a bad decision, had sex, got pregnant, and kissed the donor goodbye (when he told her he didn't love her) DESERVE welfare? She may want it. She might even need it. But, unless she is willing to do her part to EARN her way in life with assistance, rather than just depending on it, she doesn't deserve it.
Don't believe the media hype that it's all bad, and don't believe the first-hand hype that it's all good. You state that "what is there now is similar to the America we once were", which I presume means they are at an infancy of what we now have -- likening it to our early days of revolution. Hell, THAT'S what I want. Do you think they'll be better off living within a corrupt system of government such as the one the American people have let happen with their complacency and desire for forced world peace? You see, the difference is that WE petitioned, demanded, and fought for our independence... They did nothing of the sort, and instead are being handed that "freedom". How free will they really be in Iraq with a US Embassy that employees 3000 people?!?
Get out - let the power vaccuum ensue, and stop meddling in foreign affairs when they don't pertain to us or our interests... Period. If a tyrannical murder comes to power, and they cower in fear - and don't stand up for their own liberty, then that is their problem.
I know that might sound cold, shallow, or whatever - but the bottom line is, we cannot afford to be the world police, the world humanitarian, the moral beacon, the nation rebuilder, etc... at the expense of our virtually non-existent domestic policy.
BTW, define "Finish the job". It's not quantifiable, because every time a "job is finished", it gets redefined. Invade for WMD - No WMD, Job finished, get out. Whoops, maybe we ought to take out Hussein while we're here. OK, Job done, let's go home. Nah, now we have to install democracy... When does it end?
Claire - I am holding out hope for you yet - your skepticism is not unfounded - and it shows you are starting to see a bigger picture.
I think the information presented was pretty unbiased. Of course with everything he had to cover, he was only scratching the surface. I wonder how many people realize Iraq was a fake state to begin with, cobbled together as it was by the British.
I hadn't realized the extent to which the war is being caused by Sunnis from the neighboring states of Syria and Saudi Arabia. I had always assumed it was mainly the Sunnis within Iraq that were revolting against the new government. I wonder what percentage of the fighters are foreign? Imagine if the majority of Sunnis were on board with the election results, and it was the idiots next door who are coming in, trying to destroy everything. If it is the case that the violence in Iraq is coming mainly from the outside, then we should ask ourselves, are we meddling in the internal affairs of the Iraquis, or protecting a vulnerable democracy from outside aggression?
You can say it is not our business to do either of these things, and that we should leave immediately. I think if we do pull out, we have to understand exactly what we are doing, and not pretend that this is what the Iraquis want, if that is not the case.
Anti war advocates talk about US occupation. It seems to me the Iraqi Shiites in the south and Kurds in the north are facing occupation no matter what. In fact they were occupied to begin with under Saddam Hussein. In my opinion they actually were freer than they have been in a long time when they elected their new government. Sadly, it only lasted for a brief moment until the Saudi, Syrian and Iranian militias invaded their country in an attempt to destroy that fragile democracy.