A Look At Iraq, Part 2

25 August, 2006. 392 words.

Last time, we learned that, for our own interests and those of the civilians in Iraq, we can’t leave until the Iraqi government can function on its own. Otherwise, we leave Iraq ripe for takeover, just like Somalia is now.

Strangely, the Iraqi government doesn’t seem terribly interested in solving any of its own problems. Or perhaps I should say that the members of the Iraqi police and military don’t seem terribly interested in cracking down on the bad guys. This is something I didn’t expect back in 2003. I’m not precisely sure what the deal is — maybe it’s a cultural difference. Maybe they don’t have any emotional investment in a revolution they didn’t start. Maybe they like the atmosphere of fear and suffering that their inaction creates. Maybe there’s more money to be made from chaos than from order. Maybe they’ve lived under the thumb of Sadaam’s brutality for so long that they’re incapable of seeing any strength in peace.

On one hand, with such an atmosphere of Iraqi indifference, it’s tempting to pull out and let the Iraqis reap their own rewards. Why should we do their dirty work for them and take all the heat when civilians get killed? But on the other hand, since we forced this change upon the people of Iraq, I think we still have some responsibility to stay until the change is complete and order is restored.

But perhaps more importantly, if we leave, it will be viewed by every Middle Eastern nation as an American defeat, and that’s intolerable, especially after what just happened in Lebanon. I hate to repeat that tired old Bush talking point, “it will embolden the enemy,” but it will. Look at how much praise Hezbollah is getting for “standing up” to Israel, and how much the average Muslim now idolizes Mr. Nasrallah. That’s the kind of elevated status that awaits the various insurgent groups, if we leave.

Also, if we leave Iraq, there’s a good chance that Iran will take over in all but name, as they have in Lebanon. (Iran is already backing Shia militias in Iraq.) And the mullahs of Iran, I am almost completely convinced, are the new enemies of the western world. Their global power and influence are growing at somewhat alarming rates, and they are firm in their convictions to spread “submission.”

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