Q – How do we bring our troops home? A – In the same planes and ships we took them in!
The preceding quip came from the Vietnam era but holds true for today in some sense. Although simplistic it assumes that eventually America will cease fighting and return her sons and daughters home where they belong.
However, extrication from the war in Iraq isn't simply a matter of picking up and leaving, despite calls for immediate withdrawal (including this writer's). We need pragmatic plans that deal with security and economic issues and contain elements to bring long-term peace and stability.
At the same time, why should such plans come from those who got us into the war in the first place?
Those favoring war and ongoing military intervention have already shown that they are neither competent when it comes to analysis of the complexities of Iraq nor have the Iraqi people's best interests at heart.
Their strategies for "peace" will be as half-baked as their designs for war and reconstruction.
The Whitehouse is updating the "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq" in advance of the new Congress. President Bush has asked all federal agencies, including the Pentagon, to provide their best assessments and recommendations for going forward. This will represent the view of U.S. government professionals working for the current Administration.
A parallel set of proposals is being developed by the Iraq Study Group (ISG) and will be unveiled soon. It is prepared from consultations with hundreds of high-ranking current and former officials, military officers, foreign governments, and academics. The intent of the ISG is to provide a bi-partisan set of recommendations for the President.
Both of these plans miss an element critical for success – Iraqi participation.
There has been almost no involvement or incorporation of the views of Iraqis since the beginning of this war, with the exception of those leaders who were hand-picked by the Administration.
Independent Iraqi groups and initiatives such as the Progressive Government Plan, the Mecca Declaration, and the Brussels Tribunal have been mostly ignored by the media and policymakers.
These Iraqi-led efforts, prepared by civic and social leaders, generally call for immediate change in five areas:
1. Involvement and sign-off by those most affected by the war - the people of Iraq. 2. Complete withdrawal of all foreign troops and military bases. 3. Preservation of the integrity of the Iraq state - no partitioning of the country. 4. International funding and participation in reconstruction. 5. Independent investigation and prosecution of crimes.
These plans variously address items of local security, sectarian divide, economic development, and political equity as well.
Some of the participants in these groups are the same persons currently engaged in insurgency against coalition forces. Many pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor for independence – during both the Saddam regime and now the current occupation.
While so-called "professionals" meet in the marble halls of Washington to discuss the fates of war, Iraqis risk car bombs, kidnappings and snipers to meet with one another and outsiders to relay information about what is happening in that country and what needs to be done going forward. They seek out humanitarian and peace organizations and the few military and government professionals who will listen to their pleas.
Charlie Jackson is sixth-generation Texan, international technology consultant, and founder of Texans for Peace. He recently returned from his third visit to Iraq.
The Five Point plan Mr. Jackson submitted for withdrawal from Iraq bears repeating:
1. Involvement and sign-off by those most affected by the war - the people of Iraq.
2. Complete withdrawal of all foreign troops and military bases.
3. Preservation of the integrity of the Iraq state - no partitioning of the country.
4. International funding and participation in reconstruction.
5. Independent investigation and prosecution of crimes.
It is important that the interests and safety of the Iraqis be made a priority as we set goals and a timetable for withdrawal, point one adresses that.
Military people have told me that the US Command is currently planning enduring, i.e., permanent bases in Iraq and forsees soldiers routinely serving there in the future as we now have them serving in Germany and Japan, and in other places. We must therefore hold onto point two and make America's military withdrawal in a short time a goal of our Iraq policy.
Point three, neo-cons and others are currently floating proposals for the partition of Iraq into autonomous regions. The United States entered a sovereign, unified country when it invaded Iraq, for us to leave a dismembered Iraq would be a disgraceful defeat and would leave the rest of the world with irrefutable proof of America's disregard for foreigners.
But what if the nation building and support for the central government needed to assure Iraqi integrity requires a longer time horizon for our military committment there?
Point four addresses the concern raised immediately above. Clearly, an international committment to funding and participation in reconstruction must follow rather than precede indigenous Iraqi establishment of internal security.
Hence, the Iraqis have a powerful incentive for settling their differences without bloodshed in the absence of Coalition occupying forces. Continued occupation provides no such incentives. The consequences of continued occupation are murderous.
Ending the occupation and giving the Iraqis responsibility for their own progress and incentive to maintain order seems a much more sensible course of action for the US.
Point five, Saddam Hussein has just been condemned for his government's crimes against the Iraqi people. These crimes included deliberate torture, imprisonment and murder of political opponents. There is a gradually diminishing distinction between the Coalition's tolerance of Iraqi government sanctioned terrorism directed at sectarian rivals and the previous regime. It is time for the Coalition to admit its failure, return its troops to their homelands and allow other institutions to prosecute the growing number of officials and officers abetting crimes.
Robert Chapman
Lansing, NY
by
Robert Chapman (28 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 556 comments)
on Sunday, November 26, 2006 at 12:25:43 PM
The Bush Administration is a total failure in all areas. Now, we could overlook this administration and just move on to another, but, ... and this is a big but, ... there are lives that have been lost by the idiotic neocons and they must pay. If they were involved in any part of the deaths and cover-ups of this regimes foibles, then there should be hell to pay. But these guys think God is on theirs side, so, ... there should be some monetary resolution from those who screwed.
Any books wrote and published, all movie rights, anything money-wise, should have a standard percentage of profits go to a fund to reimburse those who have lost family members. You cannot walk away from murder and get away, scott-free. It is unAmerican.
Now, soldiers can write their books, but anyone, including Ann Coulter, Bimbo Limbo, and Dennis Miller should lose part of their income for supporting the invasion of Iraq and made profits from it. Dennis Miller was supposed to be the "intellectual comedian," but his intelligence can be measured in millimeters.
"I am so proud of our troops! They are killing tons of hyphenated people in Iraq." (DM on Jay Leno Show) Both Leno and Letterman are heroes when they did not allow themselves to be pulled into the muck and mire of the neocons and the Bush worshippers.
The Dixie Chicks should be accorded "rock status!" Those gals expressed their rightful feelings long before those who moved away from supporting the war. Nashville bears some blame on this.
Toby Keith supported our troops admirably and verbally and openly questioned the invasion of Iraq. He did his thing and did it his way. He proudly let everyone know that he was a Democrat from a bright red state. Toby and the Chicks should make up, because they are closer together than farther apart.
It's time to start reeling in the big catches and start the filleting process.
by
Dale Hill (58 articles, 0 quicklinks, 102 diaries, 347 comments)
on Sunday, November 26, 2006 at 1:35:17 PM
2 comments
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