Good Guys Vs. Bad Guys
Today we hear that 60 more civilians were killed in Iraq as an anti-American Shite cleric's band of loons blew up a university. 34,000 civilians were killed in Iraq in 2006. But wait, weren't the Shites supposed to be our friends? After all, Saddam was a Sunni and they must be the bad guys, right? Well gee, after we had the dumbed down version of events from our Fearless Leader, the evil Sunnis had to be stopped from terrorizing the innocent Shias. So wouldn't you think that these Shias would be ever so grateful to the US for saving their butts from oppression and welcome the US with open arms? Oh dear, something seems to have gone terribly wrong in our tidy little calculations, eh? Who ARE the good guys?
I guess I'm not the only one who is confused here. People have been fighting each other in the Middle East for thousands of years. It seems pretty arrogant to me for anyone to believe that any one group could magically appear and stop any of that, especially given the complexities of human emotion and the tendency for certain groups to be driven by revenge and the desire to kill as many of the "other side" as possible, regardless of who gets in the way. It seems pretty laughable to think that a group of armed Americans, hated as we are throughout the Muslim world, could sweep in, take out the ruler of a country, and everyone would suddenly find peace in their hearts and become a country of reformed Grinches. So regardless of who we determine to be the good guys, they hate us and aren't very likely to put flowers on our soldiers' graves. We are there merely to provide a few more targets along the way.
So now our fearless leader feels that the new answer is to add MORE armed Americans. Just a few didn't work, so let's add more to the equation. More guns, more Hum-Vees, more bullets, and of course, more targets. It's hard to believe the man really feels that more soldiers will actually do anything whatsoever to change a mindset of "us vs. them" that has permeated the region for so long. Undoubtedly, we are holding down the amount of violence as the many "sides" of this issue attempt to blow each other up. However, I think we are utterly fooling ourselves to believe that once we finally leave the area, those few little "good guys" that we trained are actually going to be able to accomplish anything close to what we know is peace. They can't even execute war criminals without taunting them or botching it so badly the guy's head comes off. But remember, these are the good guys.
Do I have an answer to this mess? I wish that I did. I'm inclined to view this as a civil war and internal to the country and let them fight it out amongst themselves. It's what they're going to do anyway. If the other groups in the area care about their fellow human beings, they will do something about it. Having it come from someone they don't already despise might actually bring forward a message that will get through. Perhaps some Saudi clerics who are well respected can do something about the Sunnis, and whomever is the equivalent on the Shia side can pacify the Shia. Let THEM step up to the plate and do something to keep their respective flocks from mutual genocide.
More ranting later.