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| Iraq | |
| Hypocrisy has a Human Price on the Streets of Baghdad | |
| 2007-04-18 | |
I have observed first-hand the effects of the Bush Administration's new Iraq security plan since it began two months ago. Street violence in Baghdad and surrounding areas has declined. Shops and markets once boarded up are reopening. Iraqi civilians are venturing out onto the streets again and living their lives with less fear of being persecuted, tortured, maimed or killed. To be sure, there is still plenty of terror and violence in Iraq, but since the "troop surge" began, it has lessened considerably. Before offering first hand proof of the new security plan's effectiveness, I must first tell you how some of my Iraqi friends and acquaintances were affected by the violence that ran virtually unchecked through the streets of Baghdad before the plan began taking hold. It is important to do this since the Democratic Party and most of those on the left side of the political spectrum either do not realize, or do not seem to care, that the lives of millions of Iraqis, (our fellow human beings), will be seriously jeopardized should America cut short its efforts to help stabilize their country. What my Iraqi friends have so far experienced is a taste of what will happen to millions of Iraqis if the reckless Left forces the US from Iraq before the terrorists, including active Al Qaeda members, are driven out of the country. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 Some of us consider all this talk about "Iraqi People" to be hypocrisy. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-04-18 06:17 |
| #2 A different perspective based on some maps I've seen detailing the changing Sunni/Shiia makeup of Baghdad. Previously, Sunni and Shiia were spread throughout the city with many mix neighbourhoods and few clear borders. Now Sunni and Shiia neighbourhoods are separated and the borders known. People know not to cross into the other's territory - just like Belfast in the 70s. I expect similar segregation has happened in the areas around Baghdad. Paradoxically, it is easier to enforce law order in segregated areas as there is no long a pervasive climate of fear and distrust. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2007-04-18 04:55 |
| #1 Another friend, Mohammed, got tired of living in fear of death or mutilation and so he fled his home and went north to Erbil, where it is relatively safe. There were others like him who were fortunate enough to have had a way to safety - most Iraqis do not, since most countries, including mine, the United States, have all but closed their borders to Iraqi citizens. I am ashamed of that. Don't blame the victim. The author should be pointing his finger elsewhere. Something he has a difficult time doing amidst all the hand-wringing. Millions of Iraqi women will experience what Jamilah has, and worse, if the American Left and the Democratic Party are successful in effecting a premature withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. What kinds of sons will those traumatized women raise? How vengeful will those sons be when they come of age? "Millions" of Muslim women are already experiencing trauma and abuse at the hands of Muslim males. If you widen your scope a bit more, Iraqi women are just part of the overall picture. In the end, whether Iraq thrives or descends into total chaos depends largely on whether or not American soldiers stay long enough to restore order, and to impart their skills on Iraqi security forces. If American forces leave before law and order is permanently restored, or before Iraq's security forces are capable of holding the line against the terrorists, Iraq surely will be lost. All righty then, with all the weeping and wailing done with, let's make sure to place the blame where it needs to be settled. Yes, the Democrats and America's Left play a major role in exacerbating the perils that Iraq currently faces. The author hammers on that point like a railroad spike. Some greater attention needs to be given to (gasp) Root Causes. Ones like Iran and their incessant meddling. Ones like Sunni sponsorship of global terrorism. Yes, a lot hinges on a continuing American presence, but what about Iraq's politicians cleaning up their collective acts? What about scumbags like Moqtada Sadr who adamantly refuse to cooperate in any peaceful resolution of this crisis? Enough self-flagellation already! Apply the lash to those Muslim factions that bear deep responsibility for protracting the Iraqi people's misery. Start highlighting the need for more aggressive intervention at much higher levels. Starting at, say, Teheran. Without this author properly limning out the real topography of why Iraq is such a shitheap, far too much blame is being thrust rather unfairly upon American shoulders. Personally, I am sick to death of it and require these sort of apologias to identify the true villians. Yes, the Left and American Democrats have much to answer for. Yes, their humanitarian artifices are a truly disgusting form of moral hypocrisy. However, they are but a small part of a much larger problem called radical Islam. A problem that would still exist even if the Democrats did not. To piss and moan about the problems that beset Iraq and give so little attention to the central players in this ongoing cycle of bloodshed serves no one any good except the terrorists themselves. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-04-18 01:53 |