A Brand New Iraq - Was War Worthwhile?
As the deadline approaches for approval of the new Iraq constitution, we await with baited breath. When they finally take the government in their own hands, our troops can start to come home. The Iraqis will finally be free to live their lives. We will all live happily ever after... at least, that's what the Bush administration wants us to believe. As a realist, I am optimistically cautious.
Make no mistakes about it, Saddam needed to go. He deserves whatever punishment is coming to him at the hands of his own people. The way we went about it was a disaster.
Saddam killed over one million of his own people. The result of two wars against Iraq to deal with Saddam have not even come close to killing that many people, but if you count the by-products of war and the sanctions, we have surpassed the death toll of Saddam when you count the injuries that became fatal, the rise of terrorism that was a direct result of the war, the disease and starvation as well as the lack of running water and electricity which made health care and sanitation next to impossible.
We have lost over 13,800 of our own troops and estimates are as high as 26,700 Iraqi civilian casualties as a direct result of our war. Over 5,300 Iraqi prisoners of war were being held by US and UK forces without the guaranteed rights due in a situation of war. [And if you don't know why this International law in regards to rules on treating POWs, just remember the same applies to treatment of our own soldiers.] As of now, the monetary cost of war is over $187,000,000 and rising.
We do not have enough troops to send over there to help the people, so it is more than necessary for us to pull out as soon as possible. We do not have the money in our budget to feed into this expensive war. We do not have the worldwide support to help in the effort that is needed. This is why it is suddenly necessary to speed things along with the democracy of Iraq when only a few months ago Bush made a stoic gesture that we would not pull out any time soon for the safety of the people nor give a date to leave as it would send the wrong message to the terrorists.
This is not a concession to say the terrorists have won. They have not. They have much worldwide heat on these organizations who will not tolerate such behaviour. In the end, they will be hunted down like dogs. They will spend their lives looking over their shoulders. Yes, they will succeed in killing innocent people, but as more people are aware of these groups, the number of successful missions will be greatly reduced.
So, at the expense of a lot of lost lives, a destroyed country of Iraq, and a ruined American economy, the Iraqi people now have "freedom". I am not against them having freedom, but it was gone about in the wrong way. There's nothing that can be done about what has already taken place. We all must face the consequences of what has already been done and move on from here.
There are so many vicious dictators and genocidal maniacs around the world. I hope we have learned an important lesson about just rushing in without common sense. We have far more dangerous threats closer to the United States that should have been dealt with, or at least acknowledged. Until the US borders are secure, the immigrations standards have been tightened, and the nations around us are at peace and have their needs met, there will always be the chance the new terrorist cells will grow in the neighboring countries who have nothing else going for them -- think Haiti, Jamaica, and Cuba for starters, all close enough to launch an attack by remote or to cross by boat. Why are we more concerned with the Middle East when there is trouble brewing in our own backyard?
Callen Damornen's World
Make no mistakes about it, Saddam needed to go. He deserves whatever punishment is coming to him at the hands of his own people. The way we went about it was a disaster.
Saddam killed over one million of his own people. The result of two wars against Iraq to deal with Saddam have not even come close to killing that many people, but if you count the by-products of war and the sanctions, we have surpassed the death toll of Saddam when you count the injuries that became fatal, the rise of terrorism that was a direct result of the war, the disease and starvation as well as the lack of running water and electricity which made health care and sanitation next to impossible.
We have lost over 13,800 of our own troops and estimates are as high as 26,700 Iraqi civilian casualties as a direct result of our war. Over 5,300 Iraqi prisoners of war were being held by US and UK forces without the guaranteed rights due in a situation of war. [And if you don't know why this International law in regards to rules on treating POWs, just remember the same applies to treatment of our own soldiers.] As of now, the monetary cost of war is over $187,000,000 and rising.
We do not have enough troops to send over there to help the people, so it is more than necessary for us to pull out as soon as possible. We do not have the money in our budget to feed into this expensive war. We do not have the worldwide support to help in the effort that is needed. This is why it is suddenly necessary to speed things along with the democracy of Iraq when only a few months ago Bush made a stoic gesture that we would not pull out any time soon for the safety of the people nor give a date to leave as it would send the wrong message to the terrorists.
This is not a concession to say the terrorists have won. They have not. They have much worldwide heat on these organizations who will not tolerate such behaviour. In the end, they will be hunted down like dogs. They will spend their lives looking over their shoulders. Yes, they will succeed in killing innocent people, but as more people are aware of these groups, the number of successful missions will be greatly reduced.
So, at the expense of a lot of lost lives, a destroyed country of Iraq, and a ruined American economy, the Iraqi people now have "freedom". I am not against them having freedom, but it was gone about in the wrong way. There's nothing that can be done about what has already taken place. We all must face the consequences of what has already been done and move on from here.
There are so many vicious dictators and genocidal maniacs around the world. I hope we have learned an important lesson about just rushing in without common sense. We have far more dangerous threats closer to the United States that should have been dealt with, or at least acknowledged. Until the US borders are secure, the immigrations standards have been tightened, and the nations around us are at peace and have their needs met, there will always be the chance the new terrorist cells will grow in the neighboring countries who have nothing else going for them -- think Haiti, Jamaica, and Cuba for starters, all close enough to launch an attack by remote or to cross by boat. Why are we more concerned with the Middle East when there is trouble brewing in our own backyard?
Callen Damornen's World
posted by Callen Damornen at 3:21:00 pm
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