"Despite recent security gains in Iraq, one important question remains: 'If American troops leave, is the Iraqi army ready to assume responsibility for the country's security?'"The unstated premise of Siegel's question is that American troops have brought security to Iraq. Let's just say that 5 years (and counting), 5 million refugees (and counting) and one million (and counting) dead Iraqis is one a hell of a legacy of security for the Iraqi army to maintain. No wonder Siegel questions whether it is up to the task.
The reduction of the eventual exit of American forces from Iraq (hopefully sooner rather than later) to just one question is pretty silly (and continues the McCain lie of selling of the Surge as some kind of great success). There are actually endless questions remaining; I'll suggest a few of the obvious:
- Will the people responsible for the war crime of invading Iraq ever be brought to justice?
- Will the US ever pay reparations for the destruction of infrastructure that it wreaked on Iraq?
- Will the corporations who swindled the US and Iraq out of "reconstruction" billions ever be held to account?
- How many foreign extremists have been created by the Iraq War?
- Will the US soldiers physically and psychologically wounded in Iraq ever receive the services they deserve?
- Will Baghdad ever be a religiously, ethnically mixed city again?
- How will the sectarian divides created by the US war play out in the next several years?
- Will the Shia-dominated government of Maliki seek to crush the Sunni minority once the US forces are gone?
3 comments:
Mytwords, you supply us with an excellent Starter List of irrefutable questions that the media (not just follow-up-the-rear NPR) could ask if they wanted to.
I would add that BushCorp, with its fledgling McCain Division, (rapidly developing under CEO K. Rove) are not at all interested in problem-solving in Iraq and its region. Their history is one of problem-causing (in the NAME of problem-solving), leading to instability, which is ripe for Divide and Rule, which is perfect for Mass Exploitation. (All this has nothing to do with a 'War on Terror' or 9/11, or Israel/Palestine. It's sheer control of resources, as we know. No emotional or sentimental stuff, just buccaneer capitalism.) Also, two potential flashpoints have fizzled: Libya and N. Korea. This is frustrating to the neocons, as Ghaddafi and the Dear Leader were very handy to throw darts at. Iran still looms, and the Russo-Georgian dust-up was a welcome avenue to a New Colder War, but Iraq is still central to BushCorp's access to true and lasting control of resources. Plus, it keeps the hungry Military-Industrial Complex at least partially fed.
In short, all those questions posed are extremely legitimate, but BushCorp (my all-purpose label) isn't in the least interested in acknowledging them, let alone resolving them.
Speaking of 9/11, NPR this morn had a predictably reverent visit to the Flight #93 crash site in PA. The walk-through was with a family member of one of the victims, who invited a tourist family to come with her to the most sacred ground of the site. One wonders, would anyone at NPR's Baghdad bureau tour the site of Suicide Bombing #156 (or pick your own number) with any family members involved, with the same sort of respect and awe?
Probably not. It's just not the SAME, you know.
On 9/11, another question I'd like to ask someone who matters is just what the connections are, really, between what happened on that day and what "we" have been doing in Iraq.
I'd also ask (not to veer too far away from the topic of your post), just why is 9/11 a day for such solemn national remembrance? I mean, is it a national holiday yet? Should it be, and should we really be treating it like it is one? Not to trivialize the deaths and the sufferings of those left behind, but what purposes, really, does all this annual marking of that day serve? And WHO does it serve?
The question I'd like to ask Donald Rumsfeld is what ever happened to all those tons of WMD for which he claimed to know the whereabouts?
" in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.
And what about all the "unknown knowns"?
Don't hear much about them any more.
Not since Rummy left the Hummy.
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