My latest column for our local newspaper

[EC]

The other day, a friend said she had to remind herself that Iraq was not a 3rd world country and the people were not primitive or barbarian. She’s accurate. The Iraqi people are trade union workers, farmers, and professionals such as doctors, lawyers, teachers, office workers, engineers and scientists. They are literate (with 8 Universities and 18 technical schools) and have museums and libraries. Iraqis go to work everyday and shop at stores and markets. They are Christians (Baptist and Catholic), Jews and Muslim.

Later that same day I Googled for more information (I felt I needed to know the people my country is killing in my name). I already knew Iraq surrounds the Cradle of Civilization between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Being between these rivers allowed farming and keeping of livestock. I learned Iraq is divided into 18 governorates with appointed governors, three of which are Kurd, who governed themselves establishing the Kurdish National Assembly.

I also learned The Quran has its own version of the 10 Commandments which happens to be the same as that of Exodus 20:2-17. One God, no idols, serving no other, no cursing, keeping the Sabbath, honoring parents, no killing, adultery, stealing, or lying, it’s all there. They see Jesus as a great prophet.

Yes, they are pretty much like us, though unlike us, they have lived through many tyrants (Hussein wasn’t the only one) and many governments. The citizens that are still there (including 900,000 orphans) are now living very different and dangerous lives.

General McCafferty just returned from a visit and reported that there are only about 500 enemy combatants in Iraq, the rest are citizens fighting to survive. Why are we devastating a country for so few possible terrorists? Al Qaeda is all over the world, we are not stopping them from coming here by being there.

What is it that winning entails? Killing or imprisoning of everyone in sight? And who is the winning for, the Iraqis or the U.S.? Do not wars end after détentes and treaties? How can an end be achieved without meetings and discussions with all involved leaders? Why aren’t President Bush and Condi Rice over there meeting with the governors and the counsel, working out compromises, setting guidelines and boundaries, calling for cease-fires, signing treaties? The credibility of the al-Maliki government is in jeopardy the longer we stay. This week six members of the Iraqi Counsel have quit. They quit because they were ready to stand-up and run their country and wanted us to leave or provide a timeline. “We’ll stand down when the Iraqis stand-up” says Mr. Bush. Instead I hear how happy Mr. Bush is with the Iraqi oil contracts being signed. The Iraqi people are not happy about these contracts. They showed their displeasure with massive demonstrations in the streets, screaming that America is stealing their oil and treating them like animals and slaves, calling for the U.S. to leave. From the World Wars on, through the rule of Nuri as-Said, Ali al-Gailani, Faisal II, Kassem, Arif I & II, Hasson al-Bakr to Saddam Hussein it has been about controlling the oil. So it goes.

Mr. Bush has washed his hands of any future peace. He has very arrogantly said it will have to be for the next administration to get out of the war, for now it is “stay the course”. Our soldiers are going above and beyond their call to duty and dieing nearly 100 a month, while Mr. President pontificates and procrastinates. Nineteen more months of death is not acceptable just because our President chokes on the prospect of meeting leaders with whom he doesn’t agree.

I wonder if the Iraqi people are just waiting for us to leave so they can get on with living their lives and negotiating a working government without our interference. They have certainly asked us to leave a number of times and I’m sure they would like this new government to work. They’ve rebuilt many times in the last 50 years and can do it again. The hope to have a normal life is an immeasurable motivation for the Iraqis.

There is one thing primitive and barbaric about all this – War.

[BonnieJW]

1. A co-worker just told me

his son is being called up in October. I love this co-worker; he's such a great guy, but he voted for * twice. I cannot square that with the kind of person he is because he does not fit the 28% mold at all. His son joined up knowing he would have to go to Iraq and no one could talk him out of it.

What do you say to someone like that? I can remember when my husband was stationed in Thailand during the Viet Nam war. We were just engaged then and we didn't see each other or talk on the phone (there were no phones where he was) for an entire year. When he got his orders for Thailand, I began waiting for him to go, and then I waited for him to come home. It was so long ago and yet I can remember every feeling so clearly. I wish this man, his family, and the world peace.

[EC]

2. If he signed up on his own, knowing he would be sent

and he voted for ** on his own, there is nothing you can say...it's too late...he'll learn from life experience now...