Hey all,
I got a few e-mails from people either saying or implying that my “horse to water” comments means the entire Enlightenment project in Iraq was a waste of lives and money. Now its’ true I occasionally get disheartened by the difficulties here, but that doesn’t mean I’ve given up or that the cause is lost. I’ve always thought worry and doubt is a sign of thoughtfulness, of an awareness of the difficulties ahead, rather than the illusionary comfort of blind faith. It is our enemies who suffer from fanatical belief in their cause, not us.
I also want to clarify what I said about the Iraqis. There are millions of Iraqis who just want to live a normal life, hopefully under the rule of a benign representative government. You may not believe it, and you won’t if you listen to the news, but that’s more true than they want to live under a Shi’a theocracy or a new Sunni dictatorship.
It comes down to trust – they’ve had nothing but the iron fist for generations – so it is very hard to get them to compromise with their enemies. So all it takes is a few thousands of hard people – people willing to kidnap, torture, rape and then kill dozens of innocents at a time (believe me, I’ve read stuff to make your blood chill) – to make politics a zero-sum game.
That’s why I made that reference to Chicago, because the Iraqi’s basically have too many Al Capone’s and not enough Untouchables. And the ultimate problem is that no one faction trusts another to be the Untouchables, so they aren’t created (we could be them, but we aren’t willing or able to be that brutal – nor will the “civilized world” let us be that brutal even if we wanted to be, which is another debate I suppose). That is a very important point that I should say again: we (i.e. Coalition Forces) are not brutal enough to end the insurgency by force, we have the capability but not the will or the desire to be that cruel. Which makes all the hand wringing over not enough troops pretty ridiculous. We could pacify this place with less troops, but we’d still have to kill 100,000 or so Iraqi’s (like Saddam and his ilk always do), and that’s not in the cards.
So that’s why this may all end in a civil war, with one side killing enough of their enemies to become the Untouchables, as Saddam’s men once were. On the other hand, maybe, just maybe, there may be time enough for compromises to be made, the killing to stop and the CF can go home. Hope may be the beginning of disappointment, but its’ better than despair.
On a last note, I was happy to hear a briefer at the Pentagon say the war in Iraq is now a conflict between Iraqi’s, rather than a war against the Coalition. About time, haven’t I been saying that since June!? (smile)
The pic is of a crazy Iraqi truck driver -- the one on the far right is moving at the same speed as the ones on the left, with us in the middle!
Fair Winds and Following Sands!
For past Brown Sand Sailor entries and pics, visit: Brown Sand Sailor Web Site