Today is the first day of the new era in Iraq, but we don't know yet whether it will be an era of peace and unification or of violence and civil war. As of today, in accordance with the U.S.-Iraqi status of forces agreement, American troops are out of Iraqi cities. The 130,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq have redeployed to rural areas, leaving urban to Iraqi police and armed forces. This withdrawal is the first step of a two-year process that is supposed to have all U.S. combat troops out of Iraq in 2011.
Although Tuesday was a day of celebration, a national holiday in Iraq, already the violence is escalating. The Sunni vs. Shiite violence that nearly destroyed the country before President Bush ordered a "surge" in troops and Gen. David Petraeus implemented a more effective strategy on the ground more than a year ago could easily be reignited. Current U.S. commanders and Iraqi politicians say the Iraqis are capable of controlling the violence and uniting the splintered nation. We'll see.
Even though U.S. troops are pulling back from the dangers of the urban areas, Americans are continuing to die in Iraq. More than 4,300 American troops have given their lives in Iraq, and the dying is not over yet. If Iraqi forces fail to control the rival militias, Americans will have to be called in. Mortars, rockets and roadside bombs will still be aimed at Americans. Even with an anti-war president in the White House and an agreement to withdraw troops, America's bloody involvement in Iraq is not over.
It's been more than six years since U.S. troops invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein's corrupt dictatorship, an act that has been called the worst foreign policy decision in American history. By any assessment, it was a gross miscalculation. Chaos quickly ensued after U.S. decisions to bar all Baath Party members from government jobs and to disband the Iraqi Army. In a nation accustomed to bullying and government-sanctioned murder, violence quickly filled the void. The Bush administration neo-conservatives blindly initiated their democracy-planting theory while ignoring the culture and history of the region they targeted, and they refused to believe massive troop numbers would be needed to keep the peace. America has paid dearly for these miscalculations, ignorance and delusions, and so has the Republican Party.
This week's redeployment of American troops begins the process of extricating America from Iraq, but it will be a long, slow process with many hazards and setbacks awaiting.
The Iraq war should have never happened.
ReplyDeleteThe radical fundamentalist muslim must be dealt with. Eradication is the only answer for this sect. Now. The Iraq war was very justified and pelosi was against it so she could obtain the funds to get her a jet that would fly cross-country non-stop. Pelosi as speaker of the house should have never happened.
ReplyDelete"It's been more than six years since U.S. troops invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein's corrupt dictatorship, an act that has been called the worst foreign policy decision in American history. By any assessment, it was a gross miscalculation. Chaos quickly ensued after U.S. decisions to bar all Baath Party members from government jobs and to disband the Iraqi Army. In a nation accustomed to bullying and government-sanctioned murder, violence quickly filled the void...."
ReplyDelete".... The Bush administration neo-conservatives blindly initiated their democracy-planting theory while ignoring the culture and history of the region they targeted, and they refused to believe massive troop numbers would be needed to keep the peace. America has paid dearly for these miscalculations, ignorance and delusions, and so has the Republican Party.".....
Indeed. However, the invasion was illegal. It was done under false pretense. They lied.
Sure, they ultimately back-peddled to the American people and the world. Yet morph the reasons as they may, it was what it was. A big fat lie to get us into a war.
I get a laugh out of people who are so dumb that they really believe "that administration" was doing all this for altruistic reasons. For Democracy. Safety. It's called Denial.
Proof is the hands off polices towards China (that's where they ironically make all our Fourth of July Fireworks) and Saudi. Not to mention what's been happening during the last 6 years in Afghanistan and Pakistan. While they were stuck in the quagmire.
Look at the draconian anti-human rights measures they tried to enact right here at home.
The Bush Administration didn't 'refuse to believe' anything, they wanted a prolonged war that carried them into a 2004 White House win and beyond.
The War (along with their homeland based scare tactics, were used as a Kool Aid for the masses. So they could control. They being the Neocons and their friends, the Halliburton's, Blackwater's and all their other outsourcing pals and Neocon cheerleaders who MADE BILLIONS from this illegal war.
By most accounts their war cost a conservative $10-15 Billion Dollars per Month. So now, as people suffer at home, go ahead and ask yourselves, "Gee, where did all the money go?".