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Well, we at least agree that the war is wrong.
Who, pray tell, decided that we should try to "drag this culture out of the 7th century?" Certainly not the American public. Incidently, Iraq is considered the cradle of civilization; they are culturally very different from Americans and that is not a bad thing, only a different thing. What gave us the right to go into a sovereign nation and impose our will upon it? The ultimate mystery is how could this administration be so naive to expect the Iraqi people to be grateful for our "shock and awe", invasion and occupation. How outrageous! At the risk of sounding crass, to me it is no different from raping a woman and then expecting her to thank you for it and saying she wanted it or needed it!
Come on, wasn't America so outraged over the murder of 3000 of our citizens that we invaded not one, but two countries? How then SHOULD the Iraqis respond to the deliberate killing of the 11,000 to 13,000 of their citizens, like we did? With gratitude? (Some estimates have it over 20,000, but it is hard to get an accurate count since the war is still waging and records have been destroyed.)
The head leader that we installed, the head puppet if you will, Allawi, has specifically said that the militias are NOT terrorists. Those that have beheaded hostages are terrorists, but they are not necessarily Iraqi. Some of the car bombings are the responsibility of terrorists and some are not. I would venture to guess that the leaders of the terrorists groups are Saudi or Pakistani and some are even Al Qaeda. Paul Johnson was beheaded in SAUDI ARABIA, by Saudis. 15 of the 19 terrorists on 9/11 were Saudi, yet Saudi is our allie, and we invaded Iraq.
The president abandoned his "hunt" for Usama Bin Laden and attacked Iraq, a sovereign nation, that had nothing to do with 9/11. The brutality of our actions has spawned new terrorists and new hatred of America, thus all of our government's "success" in defeating most of the Al Qaeda has been diminished because we are the "occupying force" and we are seen as the evil regime, so more people are joining in the terrorist's efforts to defeat and destroy us.
The derailing of the Iraqi economy was done by the US and the UN, first by sanctions, then by our invasion. The recovery would not be so great if we had not invaded them. Bremer left and $20 billion was missing from the Iraqi government's coffers, but no one has tried to investigate the missing money, let alone recover it. Talk about the derailing of the recovery efforts. Haliburton overcharges the U.S. and the Iraqi people in the millions, if not billions, yet you are blaming the citizens of Iraq, who are defending their homes, with "derailing the recovery efforts". The citizens that have taken up arms are doing so because we imprison, torture and kill their citizens, we bomb their homes and businesses and we threaten their mosques. The government leaders are not the elected leaders of Iraq. They were the leaders appointed by our government. Some in Iraq may perceive them as "puppets" of an occupying force. Since we are the invading and occupying force, don't you think the leaders we appointed are suspect?
Let's see if I can put it in terms that you may understand. Remember the movie "Red Dawn" when the USSR was attacking our nation, murdering and imprisoning our citizens? Did you cheer for the USSR or for the young freedom fighters that sabotaged the Soviets' efforts to control our nation? I am sure that the Soviets thought their government and way of life was much better than ours, so why were we resisting? When the military leader was killed in the end, did you think, "my what horrible terrorists those kids are" or did you think "yeah, kill that s.o.b."?
When the leader in "Brave Heart" rallied his men to fight for freedom in his country, did you think, what a bunch of terrorists, killing the leaders of the government, burning property, attacking the troops? Or, did you understand his determination and admire his perseverance? Could you understand how the "insurgents" in "Brave Heart" resented the occupation of their nation and the control of their lands by the "robber barons"?
Okay, so those are movies, let's go back to the Revolutionary War. Would you have been the good citizen that accepted the rule of King George? Do you see the minute men as terrorists or as freedom fighters? King George was sure that he knew what was best for the colonies. The revolutionary army's efforts to drive out King George's forces "derailed" the colonies economic growth, but it was necessary in the fight for freedom. I am sure the minute men killed many "government leaders" in horrific ways, they had to for their families, their homes, their freedom -- our freedom.
The U.S. is now an occupying force, we are the robber barons, we are trying to tell these folks how to live and at the same time we are taking the bounty of our "victory", the oil. American corporations are profiting as a result of the war and the monies are not being seen by the Iraqi people. War profiteering has run amuck and we condone it because "we liberated the Iraqi people from a dictator" and because of "9/11". The ironies of this war coupled with the sad truths of the atrocities all shout out that we are the hypocrites and we are wrong.
I am happy that we agree that the war is wrong. I will do something about my beliefs, I will vote for a regime change at home and I will continue my meager efforts to have the truth heard. As a journalist, you should be on the same mission, unfortunately, you tend to believe the propaganda. As an American, I know that dissent is necessary and appropriate when the leaders have gone beyond their bounds and when their actions are destroying the cherished principles of my beloved nation. We are not the world police, we are only a member of the international community. Our nation is in great peril and it is our leaders that have placed us there by their failure to adequately and appropriately respond to the terrorist attack of 9/11/01.
In closing, you are right the Iraqi people "do not deserve us", no nation, no people deserves to be attacked, invaded and occupied as the U.S. has done in Iraq. No civilized society deserves to have the values of another nation shoved down its throat.
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