US Foreign Policy a Mystery: US on Iraq

Okay, forget what we weren't thinking, when we fell into the Iraq war. Let's try to do something Waaayyy beyond conventions and think ahead.

If we pull out of Iraq under similar circumstances to our evacuation of Vietnam, what we would leave behind would be far, far, different and much more dangerous. And please don't think that I am advocating the loss of some 12 million lives which resulted.

Close as I can recall, after our pullout not one single Vietnamese person, communist or otherwise, strapped explosives to his body and walked into a public place to commit mass murder of innocent victims. Nor did they pursue the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction. In fact, they even gave us back John McCain in one piece, pretty much.

Unfortunately if we abandon Iraq we will be proverbially pointing the gun at our own heads and shouting at the terrorists to "be still or we will pull the trigger". To leave Iraq unresolved and unable to maintain its independence we will be inviting anarchy and civil war as well as the ultimate outcome of a Taliban style fundamentalist state. But worse, the insurgents and terrorists and Bathists and Al-Qaeda will all take credit for "another" victory over America and capitalize upon it as they set their sites on Israel. Another war waiting to happen.

Internationally, we will have demonstrated our disloyalty to the pursuit of democracy, (which I personally think is over rated, in cases like Cuba anyway) and let's face it, good reason or not, we will NEVER be able to start another "war" with any kind of international support.

Now I'm not suggesting for a moment that another war is a good idea but what if Great Britain wouldn't even come to our next conflict? It always seems a good idea to save one last sip, one last match for you will never know when you might need it but if we abandon Iraq before installing security, were through, done, spent, neutered. Not that we are ever going to be able to look back upon the war as a victory but at least our government could make a few lousy excuses before going into our next debacle, hopefully with a few allies, a plan and genuine sense of purpose.

Now as far as getting into this war goes. What the f**k were we thinking? Don't we pay enough wages to inspire talent in our public posts to employ thinkers and problem solvers?

I explained to my wife before the war started that although Hussein was a despot and tyrant, he was at the very least effective at controlling the masses in a region strife with secular conflict for thousands of years. You know; the type between the Muslims and the Hindus, Shiites and Sunnis, Muslims and Kurds, Muslims and the Christians, everybody but the Christians and the Jews, well, you get my drift. The point is that these people have been committing atrocities against one another for centuries and we are going to just walk right in and hand them a recipe for democracy and tell them they can be happy now?

No, now we are really screwed because we can't just bow-out and I am sure that our current administration will never figure out how to bring the Iraqis to a peaceful sense of security. For crying out loud, we are training and paying their death squads and adorning them with police uniforms paid for by US taxpayers.

I honestly believe that Iraq would be better off if we dusted off Saddam's best suit and shook hands with him on our way out of the country; but that won't happen. What we could do however, is turn to Iran, Syria, Kuait, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan for help. Not a brilliant first choice but let's face it, we are out of brilliant first choices here and we need to begin to seriously consider the best of several less optimal options. Each of those countries has way more at stake in terms of regional stability, commerce and natural resources. Let each of the six countries (including Iraq) contribute to that security.

And after we get our soldiers back home and rested, let's ponder for a moment what we could have achieved in our own country during the duration of this war with all of the resources that we dedicated to it. The manpower, the engineering, the diplomacy, the capital and most of all, the good will that can be much better spent on our own citizens within our own borders.

And why is it that the lesson taught to our children by our government is that our battle in Iraq is more important than our battles at home with homelessness, poverty, mental illness, disease, drugs, terrorists and natural disasters? Answer me that.