Okay, We Broke It. They Keep Breaking It.
I was never for going into Iraq. Flattening the mountains of Afghanistan to get Al Qaeda, yes. But, now that we're in there, we're in there. And we're making a further mess of it by having inadequate troops there -- turning the troops we do have into Islamist nut fodder. Very sad. But, you can't stick it all on us -- a wise observation Henry Porter makes in the Observer/UK, in a piece that starts with the horror that is chlorine bombs:
So we are talking about civil war and the convergence in Iraq of a number of opportunistic death cults, the most crazed and narcissistic of which is probably al-Qaeda, though the Shia death/torture squads fielded by Muqtada al-Sadr run a pretty close second. Is this Bush and Blair's fault? Ultimately, yes because they opened the fissure that released the superheated gases of Islamist fanaticism.But we cannot leave it at that. Somewhere in Iraq, for example, there is an individual who allowed two young children to travel into Baghdad as passengers in the back seat of car that was loaded with explosives. Naturally enough, the children's presence lowered suspicion at the checkpoints. The car entered the city, the adults hopped out and detonated the bomb with the children still inside.
That is badness of a high order and you would expect it to have offended every loving parent across Islam. You would certainly expect to hear some stern religious voices in Middle East calling for the cessation of such barbarity in the name of one or other sect or tribe or, indeed, Allah. There are murmurs of disquiet, even horror, but in a way, the Americans and British have become everyone's alibi or at least plea of mitigation.
Our catastrophic blunder has removed the need for any moral calibration in Islam of what Muslims are doing to Muslims in Iraq. In the West, there are many, who, because they were passionately against the war, fail to see that they ought to refine their judgment on the men who thrill to the idea of perfecting a chlorine bomb that will maim, blow apart or asphyxiate the workman who has just got off shift, the housewife loaded down with groceries, the student waiting to meet a friend. The chlorine bombers are not freedom fighters
There is nowhere for us to go on Iraq. There is darkness but no hint of dawn. The surge of troops that has put such a strain on the US military has reached the halfway mark with about 15,000 deployed. In the same period, the civilian death toll has risen by 15 per cent. More troops mean more deaths, but fewer troops may mean even more deaths: a sprawling civil war that could last five to 10 years and change the course of world history on a very grand scale indeed.
There may be just a few opportunities to save the region. The first comes in early May when the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, meets the Foreign Ministers of Iraq's neighbours in Egypt. The era of what has been called Bush's 'moralising foreign policy' is over and Dr Rice is said to be on a mission to listen.
It is hoped that bilateral talks with Syria and Iran will take place afterwards, but America and Britain need to show much more penitence for the ungodly mess we have created. Among the Middle Eastern powers, there has to be recognition that many of the demons let loose in Iraq are the product of religious fanaticism.
The Muslim world has to find its own way of speaking up for humanity and civilisation and, for a start, to condemn the chlorine bombs.
Yes, of course. Syria and Iran are SO concerned about Iraq having a peaceful future. They're so concerned that they're funding insurgents and looking to build their own nukes! Let's just call them our partners in peace.
marion at April 26, 2007 7:45 PM
If we fail in Iraq, we are guaranteeing the eradication of the middle east within ten years.
Write it on the calendar.
Because while Europe might be willing to go dhimmi and implement sharia, and probably even offer to cut off their own heads, I don't see the US or China doing the same. And an emboldened pro-caliphate Iran is not going to stop with Londonistan and Andalus.
So you just keep saying that we've lost in Iraq. Because when the politicians make your predictions come true, they set the clock running on the eventual eradication of Islam.
brian at April 26, 2007 7:59 PM
oh - and if anyone thinks that negotiations with Iran and Syria will result in anything other than renewed attacks on Israel, they are dreaming.
the last line is the clincher in the naiveté olympics:
The leaders of the so-called "Muslim world" have already spoken. The infidels must be killed, by any means necessary. This whole affair in Iraq was an effort to REPLACE THOSE LEADERS WITH SOMEONE SANE.
brian at April 26, 2007 8:05 PM
I recommend today's post at 'Abu Aardvark' to your attention, where political divisions in the Sunni 'insurgency' are outlined : because of reasons like those just outlined.
First nobody knew the difference between Saudi Arabia and Iraq ( 9/11 was done by a suicide squad : who can you punish ? ). Then Sunnis and Shia were lumped in the same heap : Muslim Iraqis.
Has anybody figured out the problem faced by troops who don't understand the people or speak the language ? I guarantee they make a 'police force' from Hell ! ( If that isn't what they are tasked with, what are they doing ? )
opit at April 26, 2007 8:38 PM
I'm sorry, but there cannot be any "chlorine bombs". There are no WMDs in Iraq.
Right?
Radwaste at April 27, 2007 5:28 AM
I'm sorry, but there cannot be any "chlorine bombs". There are no WMDs in Iraq.
Doncha think those are recent imports? If they had 'em before, they woulda used them, no?
justin case at April 27, 2007 1:57 PM
Actually, the WMD thing is being misused by liars (yes, LIARS) on both ends of the political spectrum (yes, BOTH ENDS).
Without even quoting pols who cannot seem to remember their own speeches and/or voting record, the WMD issue is easily seen as a red herring in this manner: every industrial nation makes or imports deadly chemicals for their industry.
So: people wishing to show Iraq as a backwards nation in need of outside "help" pushed the idea that the only such chemicals were military; all those interested primarily in hating Mr. Bush and doing what they can, honest or not, to oppose him will ignore the industrial needs of the nation - if they ever knew it. Technology, and its status anywhere, is not the forté of your usual activist.
Nowadays, to avoid being an outright liar on one topic or another, one must develop one's own voice rather than quote a political figure.
Radwaste at April 27, 2007 5:22 PM
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