For years we have been told we are fighting the Bad Guys. Al Qaeda. Terrorists. Fighting them over there so we wouldn't fight them over here. So we fought and died, trained our Iraqi allies, and depleted our resources to provide the Iraqis with democracy and freedom. Just a few days ago, 2 of our finest were tortured and brutally murdered by evil men drawn to Iraq for the sole purpose of killing Americans. Never before has the face of our global enemy revealed itself in these acts of depravity. Against this foe, we were the Freedom Fighters, the liberators in the "noble cause". It was our duty to rid Iraq and the world of their savagery and lawlessness. It was a Global War on Terror, after all, and they were the enemies of civilization.
Why does the U.S. inprison them here while our "ally" seeks to pardon them over there?
On one hand, the U.S. government is fighting tooth and nail to indefinitely hold enemy combatants of the same sort who mercilessly tortured and killed PFC's Menchaca and Tucker. The Geneva Convention has been cast aside to keep these terrorist away from the "central front of the war on terror". Meanwhile the Iraqis, with our acquiescence, are considering the pardon of these same killers right on our front lines. In the words of the Iraqi leadership, those that kill Americans are guilty only of "legitimate acts of resistance and defending their homeland." That same high-ranking official went on to say, "These people will be pardoned definitely, I believe". There is a contradiction here, and it doesn't make sense.
What has changed?
What has changed is the element of time for we have over-stayed our welcome and purpose. Now, after years of "stay the course" and 2,500 of our best killed, our allies on this Global War on Terror now have "turned the corner" on us claiming that those who shed American blood are now the Freedom Fighters. Killing Americans is now their "noble cause". Liberate and leave has changed to liberate and languish and those that killed PFC Menchaca and PFC Tucker can expect a full pardon providing they had not shed Iraqi blood if the Iraqi government has its way.
How did we go from liberators to "the enemy"?
Liberators liberate and leave. That's what we do and we are good at it. But because we have not begun to drawdown and redeploy as we should, Jack Murtha's toughly worded but honest assessment that we have "become the enemy" has become tragically real to the families of PFC's Menchaca and Tucker. When the majority of the Iraqi people believe it is justified to kill Americans, this pardon/amnesty would make the torture and killing of servicemen like those young men legal. The proposed Iraqi pardon of those who have shed American blood is concrete proof of his honest assertion and will cost us lives and credibility. We know we are not the enemy. We know we were there to give the Iraqis a better life, but a line has to be drawn somewhere when the very same Iraqis believe we are "the enemy" and their government takes steps to legitimize that belief.
...Who Needs Enemies?
We should pull out to the periphery, test the Iraqi national will and allow a government emboldened to pardon whomever they please to finally stand for themselves. If they falter we will be close enough to strike in the same way we struck Zarquawi but far enough away to cease being targets. But to keep our troops where they are, in the service of a foreign government where American lives are just collateral damage is irresponsible and indefensible. We must not allow the enemy that has destroyed the lives of our servicemen and their families a chance to torture and kill again and we must not allow the Iraqi government to legitimize evil in order to keep a fractured country together. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
Comments (5)
"we must not allow the Iraqi government to legitimize evil in order to keep a fractured country together"
Thats basically what would happen, legitimize the killings of those boys. And then they'll kill some more, and we'll kill more , and the Northrup Grumman's, KBR's, and the rest get richer and richer.
Posted by: eagle75 on June 23, 2006 15:26
Just what exactly is going on? If it's a war, then let's win it. Just the mere fact that iraq is considering this is a slap in the face!
Posted by: rob on June 23, 2006 15:56
Welcome to the section! It's great to watch the WC and see the world community at it's best. We are such an important part of it and I hope to see a return to our place of leadership. We are the greatest country in the world and we should always act like it. And we need to go further in the WC next time. I am hopeful that the world's circumstances will be better the next time around.
Posted by: JoeDuran on June 28, 2006 12:28
Sports and politics mix suprisingly easily. The late Hunter Thompson ventured there as well as a few others. Even old Carville is getting into it.
Just an update: In the last few days Malaki has informed the world formally that the amnesty will not include those who have killed Americans or Iraqis..so that begs the question, who then is eligible for amnesty? Looks like a change of course occurred. Good.
Posted by: JoeDuran on June 29, 2006 10:42
Here's an idea for resolving the dilemma of the U.S. initiated war in Iraq:
TIN WORPP:
Transform the Iraqi Nation into a WORld Peace Project
1) We make a sincere apology to the world community that so profoundly supported us after 9/11, for our disregard of them in our rush to war in Iraq, which has caused such instability in the center of the Middle East and the World.
2) We ask the nations of the world to join us in transforming the Iraqi Nation into a model world peace project by establishing embassies that we and the Iraqis work to fortify. These embassies will function as training facilities in which all nations fly their flags next to the Iraqi one, stake their reputation and personnel in the training and assistance of Iraqi security to make the speedy withdrawal of most U.S. troops more practical and possible.
3) Within a year, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the cradle of civilization as Sumer, can become a model of international cooperation and stability, resolving the hostilities emanating from a continued dominant U.S. presence.
(The MAP-SEAM: The Messiah Amendment Party-Solutions for Earth and AMerica.
Amendment II: The SPACE Amendment, The Security Plan Across the Continents of Earth, Section Three, Part Two, Copyright 2006).
Posted by: david walden levin on July 2, 2006 14:24