Reply #29: I agree that Washington failed us all... mostly the Iraqi's... [View All]

[Spector]

This may not be a real popular view, but this is how I feel about Iraq, please hear me out;

We left the job undone after the first Gulf War and abandoned many people who wanted to be free of Saddam. We abandoned them to their fate, to be hunted done and killed.

...and the chicken-hawks in Washington wonder why they didn't welcome us with open arms.

I was in Iraq for almost two years; before, during and after the first Gulf War. I was there when we promised the Shiites and the Kurds that we would support them if/when they attacked Saddam. I was there for the aftermath when we didn't keep our word. Do you know how many tens of thousands of Shiites and Kurds were killed by Saddam because we didn't keep our word? A lot of those mass graves are directly our fault.

...and the chicken-hawks in Washington wonder why they didn't welcome us with open arms.

I was there when we left Northern Iraq for the last time in '92. One of the Peshmerga Generals begged our Commander not to abandon them. He showed us pictures of their slaughtered children and was crying freely. I remember vividly when we snuck out of Iraq in the early morning, hours before dawn.

I remember going back to N. Iraq a few years latter, a lot of our supporters had been killed. Those left, didn't trust us. Hard to understand why not..

So, whatever the real reason bush decided to go back into Iraq was, I felt we were going to right a wrong that we did by abandoning the majority of Iraqi people in the first place after the first war. My honest thoughts were; screw bush's agenda, we were going to finally go back and do the right thing.

The problem was, the people we went to help were mostly gone. Those that are left are so beaten and distrusting I don't know that we can ever really help them, especially since a fair number of civilians are becoming casualties. What some of them must think of us... I shudder to think.

Don't get me wrong, a lot of Shiites and most of the Kurds are happy that saddam is gone. They just aren't real sure that we won't abandon them again. So, of course they don't trust us to stand by them and finish the job. Most are laying low until we prove we are people of our word or until we give up and go home. Since we aren't seemingly keeping our word to secure the country, rebuild the infrastructure, and help them create a new viable government (i.e. doing it fast enough), they aren't fully backing us. So no, I don't think we should pack up and leave; we should keep the faith and our word with them.

I honestly don't think bush can come to the logical conclusion that his 'after saddam falls' policies were and are all f*cked up, so I don't trust that he will set things straight.

Kerry had the right ideas I think. Get enough troops in there to stabilize the country, preferably troops from nations that the Iraqi's can trust. Help the Iraqi's to feel and be secure. Make it secure enough to actually fix the infrastructure like we have been promising. Of course this should have been done from the start, but what's done is done. Do the right thing now.

Sh*t, I don't know, there are no easy answers. The point I'm trying to make is that we created the mess in Iraq (starting in the early 70's-- chk Iraqi history) and it is our responsibility to fix it in my belief. I wish our troops could come home right now, but I truly believe that would make the entire situation in the Middle East, much worse.

I'd go back in a second, to help out and watch over my troops, if they would let broken soldiers like me back over there.

Oh well, sorry for the long post. I feel very passionate about doing right by the Iraqi's.

Keep the Faith...