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Well, I'll admit that I may be bit biased on this issue because I was a soldier in the US Army during the run-up to the Iraq war (Something you may find interesting- to those in the service, there was no doubt that the US was going to invade Iraq. We saw it as a definite as early as late 2001, when the White House was saying there was no interest in Saddam). I saw no justification for the war, except as a scheme for the Bush administration to make a profit, and rather than go fight for Bush, I deserted my post, faced my punishment and I'm now a civilian, and happy as fuck, I might add. I think everyone in the service should do what I did- It's my opinion that the military should stand up for itself when the uses it's being put to are deeply unjust, but that's a topic for another thread. However, I know a lot of people over in Iraq right now, and many of them agree that the war is bullshit, but they may need the money and benefits the Army offers, or they may feel a loyalty to the service that supercedes the asshole commander-in-chief. They may just be good people who believe the shit that comes out of that man's mouth. The military is very, very good at indoctrination. I haven't been in for quite a while, but sometimes my Army brainwashing will come out when I have too much to drink. These people know what they're doing. And yes, there is your garden-variety sociopath who actually wants to kill people, but those guys are rarer than you may think.
My point is that most of the guys and girls over in Iraq don't want to be there, and more than you may think actually want to do all they can for the Iraqis. HOWEVER. The general populace of Iraq doesn't want the soldiers on their land. I'm not in the least convinced that things are better there now than they would be if we pulled our soldiers out. there might be a civil war, yes, but there's a guerilla war right now. The only thing that's keeping the Sunnis and Shiites from killing each other is the fact that they hate Americans more than each other. And I find that totally understandable, considering we bombed the shit out of them, but I don't think they'll hate each other any less the longer we're there. Chances are, a civil war will start whenever we leave because that's the nature of the beast. The ugly truth is that some sort of stability follows a civil war, and I think we might just be postponing that by sticking around.
The police and soldiers we're training in Iraq are a dubious proposition at best. They may very well be signing up for the money, and when the US leaves, be it tomorrow or ten years from now, they most likely will revert to their religious or family loyalties. I would. So this program is quite possibly useless.
We're providing almost no jobs to Iraqis, but American contractors are making big bucks (don't get me started...). Just providing the resources for Iraqis to rebuild their own infrastructure would, in my opinion, be better than trying to do it for them with our own people.
And, as for a terrorist breeding ground, I totally disagree. I don't think you can get a better terrorist breeding ground than Iraq today, where the American oppressor is on every corner with a rifle. I think the terrorist breeding over there is hot and heavy right now.
Make no mistake, I see the underlying fucked-upness of the situation. I just don't think the presence of coalition soldiers is unfucking the situation, and thus I see no reason for them to put their asses in the line of fire, in service to a lost cause. |
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