Posted below is the op-ed piece written by seven soldiers in Iraq. Reading it, and listening to the families talk about the two of them that died in Iraq yesterday, you would never question their patriotism, their Americanism. They are not four star generals, but they’re our soldiers, the kind that fight and die in the sands of Iraq. They were supposed to come home soon, but at least two of them won’t.
While General Petraeus gave us his view of the numbers, and Ambassador Crocker gave a very well considered hypothetical psychological profile of the Iraqis, these young guys told us what the Iraqis are going through, and what they need. They said …
The Iraqi government is run by the main coalition partners of the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance, with Kurds as minority members. The Shiite clerical establishment formed the alliance to make sure its people did not succumb to the same mistake as in 1920: rebelling against the occupying Western force (then the British) and losing what they believed was their inherent right to rule Iraq as the majority. The qualified and reluctant welcome we received from the Shiites since the invasion has to be seen in that historical context. They saw in us something useful for the moment.
Now that moment is passing, as the Shiites have achieved what they believe is rightfully theirs. Their next task is to figure out how best to consolidate the gains, because reconciliation without consolidation risks losing it all. Washington’s insistence that the Iraqis correct the three gravest mistakes we made – de-Baathification, the dismantling of the Iraqi Army and the creation of a loose federalist system of government – places us at cross purposes with the government we have committed to support.
Political reconciliation in Iraq will occur, but not at our insistence or in ways that meet our benchmarks. It will happen on Iraqi terms when the reality on the battlefield is congruent with that in the political sphere. There will be no magnanimous solutions that please every party the way we expect, and there will be winners and losers. The choice we have left is to decide which side we will take. Trying to please every party in the conflict – as we do now – will only ensure we are hated by all in the long run.
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In the end, we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to call us what we are – an army of occupation – and force our withdrawal.
Until that happens, it would be prudent for us to increasingly let Iraqis take center stage in all matters, to come up with a nuanced policy in which we assist them from the margins but let them resolve their differences as they see fit. This suggestion is not meant to be defeatist, but rather to highlight our pursuit of incompatible policies to absurd ends without recognizing the incongruities.
The men that wrote that piece are patriots. They have/had no reason to do anything but tell the truth. I am keeping them and their families in my thoughts, because these are the types of people that we need.
I just watched “Alive Day Memories” war in Iraq documentary It’s from HBO.com and it is heartbreaking and inspiring all in one. .