What to do about war
I regularly read Orson Scott Card's columns at the Ornery American and Hatrack River. I have fundamental differences with his beliefs on government and the Iraq war. I am fundamentally minarchist in nature, whereas Card seems to lie firmly in the Joseph Lieberman Democrat camp. If you don't follow politics or political beliefs very much just know that we are, in essence, opposites.
You know... I had a long diatribe ready to refute individual points and point out the inconsistencies in his belief in the current war in Iraq, but I'm tired of fighting over table scraps and cliches thrown about by anyone in the political game. The modern search for a headline or website post title has cut the legs out from under anyone wishing to portray a true opinion on the current happenings in our world. I respect Card as a writer even though he has a penchant for controversy and is typically dismissive of anything that doesn't fit within his viewpoint of literature or political thought. I just enjoy his stories.
He believes the war to be necessary. My current understanding of his beliefs is that the war should have happened no matter what. That freeing the "oppressed" people of Iraq was critical to the good of the United States. I can respect that opinion if given sufficient reasoning, however I find myself disagreeing with the fundamental understanding of the Islamic sects and their internal and external struggles. He purports that the Shia majority is the moderate voice of reason within the current nation of Iraq and seems to lay the current blame for the instability in the region on Sunnis, while throwing Iran and Syria into the pot to ensure the continuation of the western reform of Islam from the outside. There is a a huge problem with this.
Most current extreme thinking within Islam is of Shiite origin. Hizbollah is a Shiite organization. Ayatollahs are Shiite. Iran is Shiite. The hugely repressive thought within modern Islam is Shiite. The death squads in Iraq are Shiite not Sunni. Card, for some reason, thinks the Sunnis are to blame for the sectarian violence within Iraq. I'd like to know where he gets his news. He is fundamentally wrong on this point. They are fighting back, as only a minority can, but the push for full Shiite power is coming from those within Iraq and a supportive Iran. This is the situation we have created. Sadly, it seems that Iraq needed a monster to keep the Shia fundamentalists in check. We watched that monster die to a Shiite death squad.
Our only good reason for ousting Saddam Hussein was to destroy his WMD research and nuclear production facilities. A point that George Bush Senior makes clear in this lecture given to tufts university. There's a problem, there weren't any WMDs. Bush Sr, warned of setting up a hegemony within Iraq but that is the road we will have to cross if we want a stable peaceful Iraq. Good luck finding opposition to an Iran-Iraq coalition against the US with both governments having a majority Shiite leadership. There is no good answer. We have made fundamental errors with this war. We must pull out and prepare for the ensuing aftermath and oncoming storm of Islamic fundamentalism and possible war with an aligned Shiite Iran-Iraq. The only way to avoid this is to put a controlling regime into power that will force obeisance from the people of Iraq. This doesn't have very much to do with Democracy and freedom.
That is the problem. We want them to be free, but the choices they make with their free will are choices for violence, terror, and war. There comes a time to say that we have made a mistake and we must prepare for the consequences of our mistake. It is time to pull out, prepare, and to streamline our military to face new type of war and a new type of warrior.
You know... I had a long diatribe ready to refute individual points and point out the inconsistencies in his belief in the current war in Iraq, but I'm tired of fighting over table scraps and cliches thrown about by anyone in the political game. The modern search for a headline or website post title has cut the legs out from under anyone wishing to portray a true opinion on the current happenings in our world. I respect Card as a writer even though he has a penchant for controversy and is typically dismissive of anything that doesn't fit within his viewpoint of literature or political thought. I just enjoy his stories.
Card on Iraq
He believes the war to be necessary. My current understanding of his beliefs is that the war should have happened no matter what. That freeing the "oppressed" people of Iraq was critical to the good of the United States. I can respect that opinion if given sufficient reasoning, however I find myself disagreeing with the fundamental understanding of the Islamic sects and their internal and external struggles. He purports that the Shia majority is the moderate voice of reason within the current nation of Iraq and seems to lay the current blame for the instability in the region on Sunnis, while throwing Iran and Syria into the pot to ensure the continuation of the western reform of Islam from the outside. There is a a huge problem with this.
Most current extreme thinking within Islam is of Shiite origin. Hizbollah is a Shiite organization. Ayatollahs are Shiite. Iran is Shiite. The hugely repressive thought within modern Islam is Shiite. The death squads in Iraq are Shiite not Sunni. Card, for some reason, thinks the Sunnis are to blame for the sectarian violence within Iraq. I'd like to know where he gets his news. He is fundamentally wrong on this point. They are fighting back, as only a minority can, but the push for full Shiite power is coming from those within Iraq and a supportive Iran. This is the situation we have created. Sadly, it seems that Iraq needed a monster to keep the Shia fundamentalists in check. We watched that monster die to a Shiite death squad.
Our only good reason for ousting Saddam Hussein was to destroy his WMD research and nuclear production facilities. A point that George Bush Senior makes clear in this lecture given to tufts university. There's a problem, there weren't any WMDs. Bush Sr, warned of setting up a hegemony within Iraq but that is the road we will have to cross if we want a stable peaceful Iraq. Good luck finding opposition to an Iran-Iraq coalition against the US with both governments having a majority Shiite leadership. There is no good answer. We have made fundamental errors with this war. We must pull out and prepare for the ensuing aftermath and oncoming storm of Islamic fundamentalism and possible war with an aligned Shiite Iran-Iraq. The only way to avoid this is to put a controlling regime into power that will force obeisance from the people of Iraq. This doesn't have very much to do with Democracy and freedom.
That is the problem. We want them to be free, but the choices they make with their free will are choices for violence, terror, and war. There comes a time to say that we have made a mistake and we must prepare for the consequences of our mistake. It is time to pull out, prepare, and to streamline our military to face new type of war and a new type of warrior.
I see what you're saying but I cannot support a full withdrawl at this time.
ReplyDeleteI do support aggressive increases in training and deployment of Iraqi police and paramilitary units to secure their own country but I think what people must realize is that the sectarian divide will not go away. We must allow the Sunni's to police the Sunni, the Shia to police Shia and the Kurds to police Kurds. No mixing allowed. When they are ready they can start the merger after we're gone. The constitution should be setup to force a cooperation between the sects and hopefully that will bring them together.
With this in mind I believe we can achieve a withdrawl over 12 months once the Embassy compound is finished.
It's an odd feeling to have, but you believe in the goodness and ability to change of these people that I don't share. Until a rapist is imprisoned and his victim is not doomed to die Islam will not have freedom. Until a person can be a Jew, Christian, or convert from Islam to another faith without fear of death in an Islamic country, Islamic nations will not have freedom. I am not anti-war or anti-continued occupation because I believe we are bringing injustice to the region, I am anti-continued occupation because we are trying to throw pearls before swine. Or at least that's our media excuse, to bring democracy. In the end war has more to do with business than it does with ideology. It has more to do with no-bid contracts and Government subsidy than belief in improving the region.
ReplyDeleteAmerica is stuck in a rut because of this.