Why We Have To Finish The Job
The Washington Post has an article that explains exactly why we cannot abruptly pull out of Iraq. One of the top aides to Moqtada al Sadr tells the reporters that as soon as the US pulls out, a bloodbath will commence.
NAJAF, Iraq — In a shabby but spotless living room in the holy city of Najaf, a top deputy of Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada al-Sadr quietly sketched out his vision of the Iraq to come, after the Americans withdraw.
First, "there will be a civil war," said the aide, Mustafa Yaqoubi, as his three young children wandered in and out of the room. The rising violence and rivalries under the American occupation make a shaking-out all but inevitable once foreign forces go, Yaqoubi said. "I expect it."
"No matter the number of people who would lose their lives, it is better than now," he added. "It would be better than the Americans staying."
In other words, a precipitous withdrawal is a vote for genocide. I would like nothing better than to see our troops home. I can think of nothing worse than to negate their sacrifices by abandoning Iraq to genocidal Islamists.
UPDATE: In comments, Blackhawk points to this Winds of Change post by Callimachus. The frustration of the people who are doing difficult and dangerous jobs over in Iraq, just to end up watching the media ignore progress and amplify defeatism is obvious. Opinion in the US is being manipulated by poor reporting from Iraq.
By Blackhawk, Wednesday, 13 September , 2006 @ 7:43 am
Slightly off topic. Interesting post at Winds of Change (read the comments as well).
http://www.windsofchange.net/archives/009029.php#comments
By TJM, Wednesday, 13 September , 2006 @ 9:07 am
“abandoning Iraq to genocidal Islamists”.
We wanted elections and the Iraqis voted for a constitution that is Islamist and a government dominated by the Shia quoted in the article.How exactly do we “finish the job”? Do we explain to Sadr why he needs to include the Sunni?Do we kill all the Sunni in order to solve Sadr’s problem for him?
All the government structures are in place.What else is there to do?
By Bill Franklin, Wednesday, 13 September , 2006 @ 3:05 pm
Did you read the last paragraph you quoted? Yaqoubi is saying a civil war would be *better* than our continued occupation! 100 dead bodies turned up today in Baghdad, most tortured and brutally murdered…that’s not genocide?
If Saddam was such a threat to us (that proof seems weak at best), then we accomplished our mission by removing him from power and installing a democracy. If the Iraqi people do not want to participate in a democracy (as was predicted by the Carnegie Endowment for Peace), then so be it. We are not the cops of the world. Besides, who’s side do you pick in the middle of a civil war?
And as you mentioned in another post, we’re so short on troops that when NATO needs more troops for Afghanistan, we can’t help. What a complete mess.