Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Confederate Yankee: Unseasonably Cruel

Confederate Yankee: Unseasonably Cruel: "'We caused this! Out of Iraq NOW!'

This is the cry I hear from many, every day, from both the political left which feels we never should have been there, and from moderates and many of those on the right who now feel our continued presence is a mistake. Our costs--1.7 lives a day--are too much for our mercilessly civilized post-modern sensibilities.

And yet we know the ugly secret, don't we?

We know that for every tragic loss of an American soldier, sailor, airman or marine in Iraq, Iraqi soldiers, policemen, and civilians pay a far higher price. We know that comparatively, our costs are few.

In a nation under severe internal strife, brave men in Iraq still show up at recruiting stations to become policemen and soldiers. They have nowhere to return to, nowhere to run, and have a simple choice; become a victor, or become a victim. In Ramadi, the capital of the al-Anbar province and long a stronghold of Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda terrorists, the Sahawa, or the Awakening, has come. Sunni tribesmen formerly allied with the insurgency are swelling police ranks, capturing and killing foreign terrorists and native-born anti-Iraqi forces alike. In Ramadi, it appears the Iraqis have shed enough blood to appreciate and crave both stability and freedom. It is slow going, but progress is being made day by day."

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I think this is true and I think that most of the people who say get out now, often as not do not really mean it. They are just tired of the ghastly images on TV.

For instance over at RCP there is a headline that says Obama says out of Iraq or something. But if you check in at JOM where parts of his statement are he says a phazed withdrawal beginning in six months if certain conditions are met. Well hell, General Casey says the same thing.

They want to complain, but most people know that we can not just bug out of there. I think I read that in the last election only 29% support cut and run.

Syl said...

Watch out for the next appropriations bill. Jim Moran is planning to attach several strings to the moneys. Like no money can be used in any way for permanent bases in Iraq )and Afghanistan).

We've all been talking about the huge in-your-face possibility of cutting all funding, period. That won't happen so fearing it takes the focus away from what we SHOULD be looking at.