Iraq: The Neverending Story 2
It's been a while, but I've just been so rivited by the Petraeus/Crocker testimony. Or as the LA Times referred to it the "Iraq is too important to lose, so we've got to keep on trying, no matter the cost, and though it's not clear when we will succeed" testimony. It seems like it can't get worse and then it does. And today is a horrible example. Maybe some of you have heard about the really stunning op-ed by seven US soldiers in Iraq published in the NY Times a few weeks ago. Here's a copy of it, and while you should really read the whole thing, here's a very short excerpt:
Viewed from Iraq at the tail end of a 15-month deployment, the political debate in Washington is indeed surreal.
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In a lawless environment where men with guns rule the streets, engaging in the banalities of life has become a death-defying act. Four years into our occupation, we have failed on every promise, while we have substituted Baath Party tyranny with a tyranny of Islamist, militia and criminal violence. When the primary preoccupation of average Iraqis is when and how they are likely to be killed, we can hardly feel smug as we hand out care packages. As an Iraqi man told us a few days ago with deep resignation, "We need security, not free food."
In the end, we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to call us what we are - an army of occupation - and force our withdrawal.
Until that happens, it would be prudent for us to increasingly let Iraqis take center stage in all matters, to come up with a nuanced policy in which we assist them from the margins but let them resolve their differences as they see fit. This suggestion is not meant to be defeatist, but rather to highlight our pursuit of incompatible policies to absurd ends without recognizing the incongruities.
We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.
Really, really, please read the whole thing. If you do, not only will you read one of the best, clear thinking yet emotional analysis of the current situation, you'll find out one of the seven authors of the piece, "The War As We Saw It" was shot in the head during its writing. He is expected to live, but the past tense of the piece's title has proven all to presenent today:
The Op-Ed by seven active duty U.S. soldiers in Iraq questioning the war drew international attention just three weeks ago. Now two of the seven are dead.
Sgt. Omar Mora and Sgt. Yance T. Gray died Monday in a vehicle accident in western Baghdad, two of seven U.S. troops killed in the incident which was reported just as Gen. David Petraeus was about to report to Congress on progress in the "surge." The names have just been released.
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Mora, 28, hailed from Texas City, Texas, and was a native of Ecuador, who had just become a U.S. citizen. He was due to leave Iraq in November and leaves behind a wife and daughter. Gray, 26, had lived in Ismay, Montana, and is also survived by a wife and infant daughter.
Bush will give a speech tomorrow and by all signs we will STILL be in Iraq with over 130,000 troops this time next year. Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Victoria Clarke, Richard Perle, Michael Gerson, David Frum, Dick Armitage, Douglas Feith, John Yoo, Richard Myers, Tommy Franks, Karen Hughes, Harriet Miers, Tony Snow, Alberto Gonzales, and Karl Rove will all probably still be alive, making millions in the private sector, and appearing on television everywhere praising the end of the Bush era and questioning the patriotism of others who argue. And Sgts. Mora and Gray will still be dead, and their children like all the children of all the dead Iraqis and other US troops and contractors will still miss them. And General Petraeus will probably continue not to want to guess if any of this makes us safer.
It's feels pointless, but I'm going to call my elected representatives today. I hope you do too.