Did you ever wonder how the Iraqis themselves feel about the talk in the U.S. (and elsewhere) about withdrawing the troops? Listen to Hoshyar Zebari (the Iraqi Foreign Minister):
Iraqis are standing up every day, and we persevere because there is no other option. We will not surrender our country to terrorists. They have failed to cripple the elected government, and they have failed to intimidate us into submission. Iraqis reject their vision of a future whose hallmarks are bloodshed and hatred.
Those calling for withdrawal may think it is the least painful option, but its benefits would be short-lived. The fate of the region and the world is linked with ours. Leaving a broken Iraq in the Middle East would offer international terrorism a haven and ensure a legacy of chaos for future generations. Furthermore, the sacrifices of all the young men and women who stood up here would have been in vain.
Iraqis, for all our determination and courage, cannot succeed alone. We need a healthy and supportive regional environment. We will not allow our country to be a battleground for settling scores in regional and international conflicts that adversely affect stability inside our borders. Only with continued international commitment and deeper engagement from our neighbors can we establish a stable democratic, federal and united Iraq. The world should not abandon us.
Don’t Abandon Us is the title of his article; the excerpt above is his conclusion. Read the whole thing.
Reid, Murtha, Pelosi, Obama, Edwards, Kerry, and the overwhelming majority of Democratic kin unabashedly want to abandon the Iraqi people to their fate. I’m sure they would bristle to hear their position described as abandonment; they would prefer to describe it in friendlier terms. But abandonment is exactly what it is, and it would immoral to do so. I am convinced that it would also be a strategic error to hand Iraq to al Qaida; an error that would come back to bite us in future years. Ignoring the terrorist threat (of which al Qaida is but the most prominent example) won’t make it go away, no matter how much the white-flaggers would wish it to…
In the old blog, Larry said:
ReplyDeleteIn some ways I figure this is kind of a “we broke it, we bought it” kind of thing. Regardless of why we went into Iraq, we did and it is currently a mess. The Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds have all hated each other for so long I doubt they can remember why. The region has changed hands so many times over the centuries it is ridiculous. If we leave, the violence sure isn’t going to stop. Are you kidding? Each side wants control of that country and the oil. With Iran and Syria fighting a proxy war there. The Shiites will end up massacring the Sunnis and then probably the Kurds because no-one is going to let the Kurds sit on the oil. And I’m sure that the only reason people like Al Sadr want us out, is so that they can take control. And to do that, he figures he just has to wait us out. I think we have a responsibility to stay.
In the old blog, Larry said:
ReplyDeleteWhen people value even their own family’s lives so little that they would murder their own family over religion, I can’t imagine there being any hope to end the cycle of killing and retaliation without our intervention. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=452288&in_page_id=1811Larry