Let Iraq Have Its Civil War
It's become evident within the last year that Iraqis are now more interested in killing each other than in killing American troops. This was bound to happen since religious differences always result in the bloodiest consequences. Yes, Americans have a different religion, but the Shia-Sunni sectarian warfare is about religious schism, inherently much more volatile and fanatic.
Do we just cut and run then, leaving Iraq for the benefit of some other country due to our effort? No. Let's consolidate the few gains we've made and hunker down to see how the Shia-Sunni civil war plays out.
Move our troops and our Iraqi Green Zone government into friendly Kurdish territory. We can move back in if Iran or anyone else tries to intervene. Keep the Syrian border sealed. Reinforce the British troops in Basra so that the oil fields and the Gulf are protected.
The Sunnis, though a minority, will get plenty of help from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan. Iran will supply the Shiites. Our troops and puppet government will be out of harm's way.
Our troops will no longer have responsibility to control a territorial area too big for the force we have there. Yet we will still have a deterrent capability in the area.
No matter when we leave, a sectarian civil war will occur at some point. Why lose anymore American soldiers in trying to put off the inevitable?
This conflict looks less like Vietnam and more like the British Mandate in Palestine everyday. What did the British do? They left.
Do we just cut and run then, leaving Iraq for the benefit of some other country due to our effort? No. Let's consolidate the few gains we've made and hunker down to see how the Shia-Sunni civil war plays out.
Move our troops and our Iraqi Green Zone government into friendly Kurdish territory. We can move back in if Iran or anyone else tries to intervene. Keep the Syrian border sealed. Reinforce the British troops in Basra so that the oil fields and the Gulf are protected.
The Sunnis, though a minority, will get plenty of help from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan. Iran will supply the Shiites. Our troops and puppet government will be out of harm's way.
Our troops will no longer have responsibility to control a territorial area too big for the force we have there. Yet we will still have a deterrent capability in the area.
No matter when we leave, a sectarian civil war will occur at some point. Why lose anymore American soldiers in trying to put off the inevitable?
This conflict looks less like Vietnam and more like the British Mandate in Palestine everyday. What did the British do? They left.
posted by Marshall Darts at
7:37 PM
2 Comments:
Marshall,
Thanks for your comments... truthfully, I don't have the answers of exactly what we should do at this point... it seems like no matter what we choose someone (a lot of someones) will be falling on their sword (ancient Roman reference to those that would sacrifice themselves in defeat/disgrace) as a result of our decision (well not my decision, but i am, like it or not, a part of this country--I like it sometimes and sometimes I don't)
For those that would like a little bit of historical background on this (and history such as the British Mandate in Palestine), check out NPR's Conflict in the Middle East
It seems we could have also learned something from British attempts to control Iraq earlier in the last century as well... instead we repeat the mistakes of their history.
By
Michael, at 7/24/2006 8:15 AM
thivai abhor,
Thanks for your reply. I don't propose to have a complete answer. As you say someone(s) will fall on their sword(s). I just don't want American soldiers involved.
This is another case of getting involved in a culture we did not understand.
Even beyong the Shia-Sunni schism there is an Iranian versus Arab antaganoism that will play into this somehow, sometime.
Arabs in southern Iran have been persecuted even though Shia. If America gets out of the way all of these age-old antagonisms will surface.
An islamic monolith is just as much an illusion as a communist monolith was.
Regards.
By
Marshall Darts, at 7/24/2006 11:48 AM
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