Let’s face it, there are many in Iraq who wants us out now and there is no getting around that.
Many in the U.S. have tried to cloak our invasion as liberation from Saddam Hussein. Many others see reasons varying from stopping weapons of mass destruction getting in the wrong hands, which Saddam said he had, to rooting out Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, who cleverly hid their presence from the main network and cable TV news media.
Denial and deception are the Intelligence buzz words today. This is so true even as terrorist all over cover their atrocities and guide the major world news media attention to fabricated incidents. The Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorist have become masters of denial and deception. Unfortunately, many American’s know not what they see.
Binoy Kampmark, writing for Counter Punch, July 2, 2009, said it best: “No one genuinely likes liberators. After the initial enthusiasm wears off, the term occupation rapidly succeeds it.”
Some may think that we have achieved some form of stabilization in Iraq. However, there is much sectarian tension boiling under the surface of what is called Iraq. The sometimes pro-American Kurdish minority, who fears that it will be forgotten as U.S. forces withdraw, would welcome the Administration’s involvement in mediating domestic disputes, especially those concerning its borders. The Sunni Arabs of Iraq are not sure whom to trust. Many of the former Arab mujahideen were supposed to be paid for switching sides but many have not been paid in months. Trouble is brewing here.
Quoting Binoy Kampmark again: “Had the US and its bought (sic) allies stated the mission in a humanitarian way from the start, matters might be different, if only slightly. Instead, they were saddled with inadequate plans for (nation)-building they were ill equipped to muster, on a mission that was undercut from the start.”
Back in 2004, the US proconsul (perhaps viceroy?) Paul Bremer, decided to disband the entire Iraqi military, many of the police and most government officers. This had the immediate effect of wide spread looting and anarchy.
Bremer was reported to have said we’re not in the business of nation building.
The US can only hope that the seeds of democracy finally have been planted in Iraq. But historians will write against the invasion, stripping it of its value, and placing it in some categories of imperialism. The US may have been a super-power, adept at deploying military force, but it has often failed badly in the nation building responsibilities.
It is easy to see how many Iraqis think that we have gone from liberation to occupation.
