Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Iraqis Stepping it Up
I read this this morning, and a few things struck me as particularly interesting. First was the young age of the bomber, 13 or 14! I did not know that terrorist groups recruited kids that young. Second, and more profound in my view, is that the local people condemned the act, even burning the house of the family of the bomber. In the 6th paragraph, they quote one of the locals as saying "We will not permit anyone with this ideology to stay in our village." I'm wondering if this viewpoint, an open and violent rejection of radical Islam, is more widespread than reported in the media. Certainly it would help the United States if the locals also took it upon themselves to eradicate radical Islam as they do not benefit from terrorism any more than the US does. I think that they media portrays the Iraqis as not liking the American presence, but I also believe that, as shown in this article and a documentary I recently watched in another class (Frontline: The Insurgency), that Iraqis need the help of the US to fight the terrorist. Iraq would be in a catastrophic state if we weren't there and if we leave too soon. (Yet one more reason not to vote for Hillary Clinton: "I will get the troops out within 60 days of taking the presidency." Yeah right.) However, I do believe that the Iraqis need to start taking more responsibility in their government. The US can not be their crutch. And as this article shows, the Iraqis are sick of terrorism too and are taking matters of destroying terrorism into their own hands, which can only be beneficial for the US.
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7 comments:
I also find it interesting that the Iraqis in that particular village took action so aggressively. Most likely this is a positive sign, but it could lead to other repercussions and variations in the violence.
As for withdrwaing troops it is important to note that the Iraqi defense minister, Abdul Qadir, earlier this month stated that his country would not be able to "take full responsibility for its internal security until 2012, nor be able to defend Iraq's borders from external threat until at least 2018..." So, regarding troop withdrawal who knows how long we could be there to support the fledgling government. Hopefully, the Iraqi people will be able to efficiently implement whatever methods are necessary for their protection against terrorist threats and otherwise. But, we must be realistic in our expectations.
By the way...you can read the article on the NY Times website...
The article demonstrates to me both the complexity and the human component of the current conflict in Iraq. We naively call for Iraq to take full responsibility for itself, while sometimes not realizing the difficulty that poses. After all, here in the States the local neighborhood kid usually doesn't blow himself up at a funeral. Our presence in the country has done some real good, and has the potential to do much more, but it will continue to take time as we help establish security and peace of mind at the individual level. Only then will terrorism within the country be undercut in the long term.
Luke, instead of telling us that the article is available on the NYT website, why not just link it?
Sorry about that...I'll be sure to include it next time.
Without any personal experience in Iraq or the situation there I would definitely say that I think overall there is a lot more Iraqi approval of the presence of U.S. troops than the media portrays. The media would lose the attention of the viewers if they portrayed the good. People want to see how negative things are, essentially that is what keeps people interested. Good news only keeps people interested for so long. While I think there is approval there, I also realize that there is enough negative feelings there for the media to cover and rather than reporting a mixture of the two they tend to only give us the negative aspects of the war. And as for anybody who says they will occupy the White House and get the troops out that fast, or at all for that matter is ridiculous. This is definitely one of the issues that is easier said than done. I think that regardless of who the next president is they will get into the White House and realize that things are a lot messier than they realized when it comes to pulling the troops. Pulling the U.S. troops out of Iraq anytime in the next 5 years (and possibly longer) would not only cause a complete collapse of anything that has been accomplished since we've been there, but there is a strong likelihood that it would leave things worse than before and cause the conflict to become more widespread, and possibly start directly affecting American citizens.
The issue isnt about whether it is right for the US to remain in Iraq or not; or whether you are supporting the leaving the troops thier or not;the main issue is the violent acts occuring are between two religious sects who have been contesting for power for centuries. The war just made it more apparent. Before the war the, the Sunni and Shiite lived and intermarried for years, today its risky. We seem tow forget that the whole middle east is divied between Shiite and Sunni. This current Iraq problem has strained relations between these two groups. We should stop trying to make excuses for the war but try to brings solutions for the crisis affectting people who have living in relative peace for years until the war.
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