On Jan. 30, 2009, 51 percent of Iraqis voted peacefully for their equivalent of state legislators. There was no sectarian violence at the polling places, and there was even a drift away from religious, sectarian voting towards secular, patriotism-based voting. Why aren’t we jumping up and down excitedly about this? Why isn’t the news ecstatic that we actually accomplished something in Iraq?
While the tanking economy certainly takes up a lot of news time, somebody in America should be recognizing that the Iraqi democracy is showing the first signs of functioning normally. The Iraqi Turkmen Human Rights Research Foundation, which produced the report cited above, can give you some good news. With all the bad economic news we’re privy to right now, good news should be welcomed.
In fact, the worst problems that came out of the elections were threats that our military consider purely hot air. Take this in contrast with the 2005 elections, where 44 people died and hundreds of attacks were reported. Black Tuesday 2008 was a more dangerous event than the most recent Iraqi elections. That’s not the only astounding thing happening in Iraq.
On Feb. 23, Army Maj. Gen. David Perkins reported not a single civilian was targeted in an attack on Feb. 20. There was no fighting anywhere in Iraq that Americans had to get involved in. Considering the tyranny Iraq came from and the subsequent civil war they narrowly avoided, a day without fighting should have been big-time news. It wasn’t. Especially since this was the war that spawned the “Endless War” bumper stickers, I think more people should know that we are in fact actually ending the war. Violence is down dramatically, elections are running smoothly and the Iraqi people are patrolling themselves.
The Iraqi security forces are up to 618,000. They’re not ineffective, either. Iraqis planned the security for the elections that went smoothly. They’re cracking down on corruption and abuse of power in their ranks, too. On Feb. 24, it was announced the Iraqis had arrested 11 Shi’ite policemen who killed Sunnis during the sectarian strife.
This is incredibly good news. It is proof that they’re not going to let the ruling party (currently Shi’ites) dominate the minority party with violence and abuse. We may never know exactly why we invaded Iraq, but when President Obama calls all the troops out, they will leave behind a stable, democratic country. Whether the Iraqis will be able to hold it together when we’re gone is unknown, but with this next year and a half or so of stable freedom I’d guess that they’ll get used to it, and if they like it, they’ll work to preserve it.
I didn’t think it could happen, honestly. I didn’t think people could be taught democracy by an outside power and that the war was a lesson in futility. But regardless of all the American public hostility and America’s messy handling of the Iraq war, Baghdad is not under a tyranny any longer, and Basra is under a stable government.
We should be excited about this. As a nation, we accomplished something meaningful. We brought freedom, whether the world credits us or not. Saddam Hussein might still be in power if George Bush didn’t ride in, guns ‘ablazin, and topple a dictator. Regardless of whether you liked the war or not, the outcome so far has been this: a stable democracy, and yet we don’t see this on the news or in the papers. This is wrong.
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My Dad was a battalion commander in Iraq when we first got there. He was charged with patrolling the Sunni Triangle, the most dangerous part of Iraq, and saw horrible things while there. But what he also saw was hope in the Iraqi people. Iraqi kids were receiving rations from his soldiers, toys from American families and many other gifts, often at the risk of the US Soldier. After the Saddam statue fell we rarely saw these positive things on the news. We never heard that schools were reopened, people were celebrating, and Iraq was finally free. The problem is that news like this do not grab attention the way a "Hundreds Die in Iraq" headline does. It is very unfortunate that the loss of life has been so great in Iraq, but we must also look at the progress that has been made. Marines began moving out of Fallujah months ago, but all I saw was a 3 paragraph article on FOXNews. The media must make an effort to show the big picture, not just the violence and terrorism, but also the hope of the Iraqi people. While he was there he would tell me about how the Iraqis treated them, like saviors for the most part. Before they could have been executed at whim, but now they are protected from such persecution. Iraq will probably not function as smoothly as other Democratic countries for many years to come, but we cant give up and leave them to the wolves. Nothing about war is good, in fact it is pure hell, but we must not let that fact overwhelm the mission which is establishing a government that the people don't have to fear.
I don't know for sure why we went to Iraq in the first place, but now that we are there we must accomplish the mission. We can not let the blood that Americans and free Iraqis have spilled for freedom be in vain. I have known people killed in Iraq, but they all believed what they were fighting for and died for it. Support the Troops!
Never Forget
23 August 2003
SPC. Rafael Navea
2 November 2003
SGT. Joel Perez
SSGT. Paul Velazquez
SPC. Steven Conover
SGT. Ross Pennanen
SSGT. Joe Wilson
SGT. Keelan Moss
19 February 2004
2LT Jeffrey Graham
"they will leave behind a stable, democratic country."
You can predict the future?!
Mr. Carradini, let's take a look at this so called success of a war. Yes, Iraq is able to have elections and while this is a laudable achievement, what has been the cost?
On the United States side, it has been rather detrimental: over 4,000 dead soldiers, 30,000 injured soldiers, and an astronomical cost of currently $600 Billion and estimated totals of upwards of $3 trillion.
On the Iraqi side, it has far more detrimental to their nation. The Iraq Body Count which holds to very very conservative estimates on civilian casualties place them in the range of 90,000-99,000 dead Iraqis. Other estimates place the death toll at 150,000 to 400,000. Another places it at over 600,000. Another places it as high as 1,446,063. These are not soldiers. These are regular men, women, and children that have been killed by our misguided actions. Likewise, 4 million Iraqis were displaced to surrounding areas by our invasion. That is around 1/7th the total population, comparable to displacing all the citizens of New York and Texas (about 1/7th of the U.S. population). This is not what I call a success. This is a destabilization of an entire nation and subsequently partly destabilizing the entire region. We have devastated the nation's infrastructure and a remarkable portion of the Iraqi population still lacks clean drinking water, proper sanitation, and electricity.
Yes, they have held elections and yes, this is a good thing, but it is by no means a metric for success for the war. We have crippled ourselves domestically and internationally with our action. Iraq is not "stable" by any means and any attempt to say that it is is misinformed.
Trim out the jingoistic crap - it's obvious that you haven't read anything more than a wikipedia entry about the mismanaged occupation and civil war - and all that's left is one incredibly naive view by someone with an unpassably ignorant knowledge of Iraq. You. Have. No. Idea.
I'm so excited about Iraq, I voted. It's time to end two or more nations under America.
Bubba-
Rush Limbaugh may very well hope for the failure of the Obama administration, and that is a bad thing. However, I have come to the conclusion that every day many liberals across this country wake up and hope for the total failure of Iraq. They need it to happen. It validates an irrational, obsessive, and paranoid hatred of George Bush.
The occupation and reconstruction were badly mishandled. As far as I know, nobody argues this point, even supporters of the war. In my personal opinion, it has been an utter disaster.
However, let's be honest, balanced, and objective. In reality, we have removed a regime that was a serious threat to the stability of the region and an utter outrage against humanity. In reality, we have given the Iraqi people justice and an opportunity at a peaceful, democratic future. None of the mistakes that we have made or failures we have incurred will ever change these facts.
You can talk all you want about casualties and dollar figures. Those things are truly horrible. However, how can you put a price tag on bringing Saddam Hussein to justice and giving the Iraqis a chance at human rights, democracy, and freedom. How souless and weak-minded is that?
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