Books: Moment of Truth In Iraq
I just finished the excellent book Moment of Truth In Iraq, by Michael Yon, the longest embedded journalist in Iraq. He thoroughly covers our military’s triumphs and mistakes in this war. The bad news, we screwed up a lot in how we handled the country, mainly by creating a huge vacuum after dismantling their military and ignoring the rather import local sheiks. The good news, we’ve recognized where we went wrong and have done a pretty damn good job of correcting them.
It no longer matters why we went to Iraq. The deed is done. With that in mind, you must ask yourself, “what should we do now?” If you believe we should pull out immediately, then you are promoting the bloody destruction of the people of Iraq as several countries are just drooling for the chance to invade and take over - Iran being at the front of the line. Do we have a moral responsibility to help rebuild this country, or are morals irrelevant and that country is not worth a single American life, regardless of the fact that we put Iraq in this precarious situation?
Alternately, do you believe we are honor bound to do everything possible to stabilize the country and leave them in a better situation than we found them?
So what’s your choice, America? Turn our backs and leave them to their fate, or morals and honor?
June 5th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Excellent review. Michael Yon has done amazing work that puts mainstream “journalists” to shame. And he does it out of his own pocket and donations from his readers.
June 5th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Because he pays for his excellent work out of his own pocket, I purchased a signed copy of his book and the framed, numbered and signed photograph that should have won the Pulitzer Prize, except it didn’t fit into their political agenda.
June 15th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Wow, that’s quite a false dichotomy. You’re assuming that the Iraqi people are completely incapable of developing a stable government on their own, and on what basis? Because they haven’t done it while they’re under our thumb?
And there is of course the option of withdrawing while leaving an ever decreasing force to help force their hand in making those necessary steps. The details of which are better worked out by military minds brighter than mine.
Given how long we’ve been there already with absolutely zero results in terms of a stable strong government I fail to see how our continued presence is going to result in more than more dead American soldiers and Iraqis (citizens & otherwise).
June 15th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Obviously, Shamgar, your only source of news is CNN with its constant barrage of “quagmire” and any good news suppressed. The reality is the situation in Iraq has been improving steadily since the American military has recognized their mistakes.
I do believe the Iraqi people could create a stable government. I do not believe their neighbors would allow them to do so if left on their own.
Read the book. Get a perspective from someone who has been there longer than just about anyone. Get some news from someone with his feet on the ground in Iraq, not with his ass in a comfortable chair in a studio and a political agenda to sell.
June 15th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Actually, I don’t get my news from CNN. I don’t generally get much of it from journalists at all. In fact, my primary source of information on what the state of things is over there comes from soldiers I know personally. (Those who lived through it.) I’ll also note that whether or not it is turning into a success largely depends on which set of goals you’re going by. So if you could share that I”d appreciate it - since there’s been a nearly limitless supply of goals coming out of this administration, a new one every time the last one fails. They’re like the average marketing department. Just spend the money on the promise of huge success, and then just redefine success based on the actual results.
I’d suggest you not assume facts not in evidence.
I don’t believe it’s a question of whether their neighbors would allow it. Frankly, the reason they’re such a quagmire in the first place is because we forced artificial borders on the people who live in those areas in the first place.
Again, the only options are not “stay” or “go”. There is such a thing as a staged withdrawal with plenty of support for the Iraqi people as they ramp up while we wind down. We have to let them fight their own battles eventually. And, at some point, they might get overrun - these things happen.
Honestly, I have a real hard time with the way many people talk a good game about caring about our soldiers. But yet they’re more than willing to throw them in harm’s way halfway around the world every time some tin-horn dictator gets a burr in his bonnet.
Our own military is telling us that we are completely unprepared militarily for an attack on the united states because of the drain on them this war has been. Yet we’re going to keep right on fighting it on their behalf leaving our homeland undefended?
We are running out of men, and heading for a draft. A whole generation of young men are going to grow up fatherless (or motherless - or both) because their parents were killed in this war.
Listen, I’m not anti-war. I think there are very good reasons for going to war, and I take every opportunity to thank a soldier when I see them for their sacrifice. Not even specifically in any given conflict, but for being willing to put their lives in the hands of our government - and ultimately its people - to defend our nation. I’m thankful for their trust, and I aim not to betray it by allowing them to die for an unworthy cause.
Some may think keeping the Iraqi’s “free” is a worthy cause. But all we’re really doing is forcing a poor imitation of what America *is* onto those people. They have no concept even of what it means to be free. Freedom and liberty come from a heart that has been set on fire for it. It comes from a people who yearn to BE free and are willing to do what it takes to be so. It cannot simply be granted externally by an occupying force. If we want them to be free, we need to give them a chance to fight for it, and purchase it for themselves. If they don’t want it, then they won’t get it, and that’s frankly I don’t think that’s our problem. You can call me cold and callous, and maybe you’re right, but my concern is for my family first, my country second, and the world third.
June 15th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
We aren’t running out of men, but we are spread out to thinly. Every single branch of the military has exceeded recruitment goals. We aren’t heading for the draft. The military has specifically said one is not needed. The people calling for a draft are Democratic Congress-critters trying to make political points.
A staged withdrawal would make sense when the country is relatively stable (we are close), but announcing any kind of time-table would be stupid to the extreme.
Shall we withdraw from Germany and Japan? We’ve been occupying those countries for over fifty years. Personally, I think we should close all our bases in Europe and let them pay for their own military for a change. Then we wouldn’t have a stateside shortage (an excellent point of yours that I acknowledge).
My point in the first place is it would be immoral to yank our troops out of Iraq now. My original article was not attempting to justify us going there in the first place. That is a complete non-issue.
June 18th, 2008 at 5:08 am
I would completely support withdrawing from Germany and Japan.
I disagree with your assertion we don’t have a shortage of people. If that’s true, why are our reserves and national guard still deployed? Why did they recently raise maximum age at which you can be recalled to service? Why have some men I know who used to be safely past the recall age now recalled to service and deployed to Iraq?
I understand the idea of trying to clean up the mess we made. However, I just am not convinced we can do it. From where I sit I’m pretty sure everything we have tried, and are trying, is doomed to fail because we simply don’t understand the political and social culture we are dealing with and we’re trying to force fit a system on them that will not last.
I think we can see this in the actions of the military currently. They are helping to setup what are basically little fiefdoms, a sort of “neighborhood watch programs”. What is really going on now is not even sectarian violence, but often violence within the sects vying for power. Sunni’s against sunni’s, shiites against shiites, etc. Much of the problem seems to even be coming through their own Iraqi police force, and so all of these little groups are propping up and it’s making yet another mess.
And you know, frankly, if one or more of their neighbors were to swoop in and take control I’m pretty sure they’d do a lot better job of providing stability - because they actually understand the sociopolitical climate they live in. There are reasons we may or may not like those results but that’s a different topic.
July 6th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
So basically, you are in favor of a brutal theocracy like they have in Iran. The people of Iraq want to choose their own destiny. If Iran or one of the other neighboring countries took over, they won’t have any choice of how they live. Sharia law will take over, whether they want it or not. That’s no better than how they were treated under Saddam. Even if they didn’t invade, if we left now, they might end up in the same kind of mess Clinton and the UN left Somolia. As I said in the very beginning, that would be immoral.