THIS is why we need to get out of Iraq ASAP

[no name no slogan]

Abbas S. Mehdi, an Iraqi expat, illustrates why we need to get the US out and the UN into Iraq as soon as humanly possible.

An excerpt:

This is what Iraq's liberation looks like to me right now: a woman bleeding to death on a public highway, unable to get help because coalition forces have blocked the road while looking for insurgents. A large room in a hospital where corpses are laid at random on a dirty floor, some of them uncovered, with nothing to identify them, a scene of horror for those trying to find the bodies of their loved ones.

The woman is my younger sister. She was involved in a car accident on the road between Najaf and Baghdad, traveling home after visiting my parents. When she finally reached the hospital in Baghdad after being stuck on the road for more than six hours, no one could do much for her, and no one was able to get in touch with her family. The hospital was overwhelmed and disorganized, and telephone lines were down.

My parents didn't find out what had happened to their daughter until two days after her death. When my other sisters finally got to the hospital, the staff didn't even know exactly where her body was. They were directed to a large room full of corpses.

"Do you remember when we lost our luggage in Jordan?" one of my sisters asks me. "It was like that. The bodies were lying all over the floor like lost baggage."

IMHO, the reason for much of the insurgency is the very presence of American troops. Our forces are seen as an occupying army, NOT as liberators of the Iraqi people.

If going to war with Iraq was wrong, why are we staying there as an occupying army? Why are we compounding the error?

I am in no way advocating that we, as a nation, "abandon" Iraq. Quite the contrary: a true international peacekeeping force under UN auspices would have a much greater chance of bring law and order to Iraq than ANY post-war occupying army ever will.

And yes, we should continue to support the ongoing reconstruction effort with American funds, as we can: after all, we broke it. HOWEVER, that does not mean no-bid contracts, or that only American (or allied) companies should get them.

We need a truly international effort to rebuild Iraq, like the one we had in Europe after WWII. And it needs to happen sooner, rather than later.

UN in, US out of Iraq!

[DuctapeFatwa]

1. Because it is not an error. And the consequences are not unintended

The crusaders are there to kill Muslims and seize resources in order to generate additional revenue for US business interests, and to set an example for other nations in the region that they may learn that the regime is determined to impose its will.

[IronLionZion]

2. don't say that

most of the soldiers are not there to kill muslims, they are doing what the Bush regime ordered them to do. Bash Bush all you want but please don't call the soldiers crusaders or murderers or anything like that.

No matter how much anyone says we are liberating the Iraqis, if the Iraqis don't want us there then we are occupying them. People will rise up against their occupiers in any country, even in this one. If Russia and China had a coalition to liberate America from Bush, American people with hunting rifles will fight them.

[DuctapeFatwa]

3. Each person is responsible for his or her own decisions

Giving the order, or obeying it.

That includes, bush, you, me, and every crusader.

[w4rma]

17. Focus your anger at the leadership, please. Not the uninformed. (n/t)

[DuctapeFatwa]

21. Do you think they don't know right from wrong?

I know that the regime is anxious to get whoever they can, and I would not be surprised to find that they have accepted enlistment of some developmentally disabled or people living with emotional disorders who could be said to truly lack the ability to distinguish right from wrong, but I would not be comfortable suggesting that is the case for the majority of them.

[Fridays Child]

4. Here's an interview with the author. He knows what he's talking about.

-snip-

Twenty-six years on, Professor Mehdi is still speaking out against Saddam. Today the 51-year-old is chairman and founder of the Union of Independent Iraqis, an exiled opposition party pushing for the removal of Saddam and his replacement with a secular democracy.

-snip-


As an economics student in Baghdad in the early 1970s, Mehdi often met Saddam, who was recruiting men for his security forces. "He used to talk nice," he said. "He talked about democracy in the early days and when I saw him at our university, I used to go and talk with him. It was a big deal for me, to shake his hand. It gave me a buzz."

After earning his degree, Mehdi did two years' national service as an army officer, a role that brought him back into contact with Saddam. But soon he grew alarmed by rumours of assassinations and torture on the Iraqi vice-president's orders.

"I found out he was killing people," he said. "I had personal friends in the security services and they were being forced to commit things, terrible things. They couldn't talk about it, but they would sit there and cry and cry."

By the time Mehdi arrived in Bath, his only feeling for Saddam was hatred. "It was at Bath that I began to speak publicly about him," he said. "One of Saddam's family, a distant cousin, I think, was studying there and I felt very threatened by him. I was worried for my family, afraid for my life.

More - http://web.stcloudstate.edu/amehdi/union/RuthWood.html

[no name no slogan]

7. Thanks for posting this

Being a MN resident, I've heard of Mehti before and I'm fairly certain I've seen him in the Mpls Strib previously, too.

This piece, to me, just completely summed up what's wrong with our mission in Iraq. It's not just one big thing that's wrong, it's all the little things: US patrols that harass supposed "insurgents" who are assumed guilty before they're charged, people dying preventable deaths, long lines for gasoline in a country with the 2nd largest petroleum reserves in the world...it's simply mind-boggling.

IMHO, this war will become a bigger issue the closer we get to November, and the deeper this quagmire gets. People will be paying attention to it, and we need to differentiate ourselves from the Repubs.

[Bucky]

5. Thank you for sharing this. It's so damn galling. It's so damn sad

I hate hate hate how my tax dollars are being used to steal oil and intimidate OPEC. But that hatred pales in comparison to how I feel about the lives of my neighbors' 20 year old kids being used that way. God forgive us for this mess. God help us when we're finished making heroes out of the terrorists in the Middle East.

[goodhue]

6. The bodies were lying all over the floor like lost baggage.

kick for the truth

[ThirdWheelLegend]

8. "a woman bleeding to death on a public highway"

The illegal occupation/war must be stopped now.

Only one person has the plan.

Go Dennis!


TWL

[Printer70]

9. Do not let anecdotes drive your judgment

We cannot cut and run- the Iraqi people will suffer further. The UN shows little willingness to enter this dangerous situation and the last time their soldiers were involved (Bosnia, Sierra Leone), they just get taken hostage and served little purpose. They're fine in stable situations like Serbia today, but let's not fool ourselves. They are in no position to stabilize Iraq today.

[iowapeacechief]

10. Nobody is proposing to "cut and run"...

...it's a dismissive expression used to avoid discussion of exit strategies. It sets up a "straw man" to reject while opting for staying in.

[LWolf]

11. Exactly.

Some buzzwords that keep a candidate from having to engage the issue of how to end this disaster.

[redqueen]

12. So tired of the Nixon flashbacks... *sigh*

link

‘CUT AND RUN’

In the Rose Garden the other day, I heard echoes of the politics of 1971-’72, when President Nixon and his allies said that that he would not “cut and run” in Vietnam, and would only accept “peace with honor.” Bush is now arguing that there is no turning back in Iraq, and that if we flinch now, the terrorists will win. He may well be right. But it is a short step from that argument to one that paints any critic as “weak on terror” and another short step to the argument that, if Bush loses, the terrorists win. The president will take the high road (as Nixon usually did in 1972); his allies and henchmen will not. Rep. J.D. Hayworth of Arizona previewed the line of attack on the “Imus in the Morning” show on radio and MSNBC the other day. “We can’t cut and run,” Hayworth said. The war on terror must not be undercut by “the leftist baby talk of Vietnam” that gives “succor and encouragement” to the enemy. We thought we had escaped Vietnam in 1975. It turns out we’ve never really left.

[Nadienne]

13. Don't let rhetoric drive your judgement

Dean said it himself: he didn't think any candidate was talking about cutting and running.

As for the UN: why would they want to send in their peace keepers if it meant protecting US industries and Bush*'s business budies? An agreement can be reached with them. It might not be our only option for ending this mess, but it seems to me to be the best. It's certainly something that should be tried first.

[redqueen]

14. Great insight

And doesn't even begin to address another huge reason to avoid the Vietnam syndrome (Vietnamization, anyone?) -- cost. Our domestic budget will be cut cut cut as the costs in Iraq drag on and on and on.

Experience is a dear school, but it is the only place fools will ever learn.

[Nadienne]

15. A pity if we should have to pay

for their learning experience.

[redqueen]

16. Tragedy is more like it

We really need to learn from the experiences of our parents and grandparents on this one.

Do they not recognize the pattern?

[Nadienne]

18. History

Interestingly enough, about a year ago a conservative Texan bragged about being on an education board that was able to review and edit textbooks that get used in Texas schools. Since Texas is a big customer for text book makers, Texas gets the honor of making sure history textbooks are free of bias. The companies that are most amenable to the Texas school boards are the ones that get the contracts. Those books are then marketed in other states.

The lesson being that history can be re-written/slanted by a bunch of conservative Texans.

No wonder we are setting ourselves up to repeat the mistakes of history.

[redqueen]

19. Gee thanks

I won't be able to sleep for a week now! God I hope you're wrong!

I live in Texas... I know what kind of moron is vetting our history books.

[Nadienne]

20. I hope

that I'm wrong. But even if I am, there's no harm in being objective... "If this is not true, who benefits from the spread of this disinformation?"

[redqueen]

22. Kick for the candidate who really cares about this issue.

And for the only one who won't use any MIC-spin from the Vietnam era to try to avoid standing tall on the issue!

[ThirdWheelLegend]

23. Caring about issues...

What an amazing idea, Dennis is the voice of the people.

TWL

[redqueen]

24. No kidding. He obviously didn't get the 'we're only in it to win' memo-n/t