It's a damn shame when the tooth fairy world of right-wing fables runs head on into the cold realities of life, isn't it?
All that "democracy, liberators, welcoming, grateful, pay the price for freedom" rhetoric doesn't paint the whole picture. Neither does that "we'll hunt down and kill the resistors who are only resisting because they're getting paid for it or are foreign terrorists." Neither does that "only in an around Baghdad are we getting resistance" excuse serve to paint a realistic picture of what is happening, and will likely continue to happen, in Iraq.
The facts are that the main Iraqi population center is Baghdad. That's the center of power. That's the place where the people we need ON OUR SIDE live. And that's the place where we are LOSING support and the guerrillas are gaining support. As for the rest of Iraq, the Kurds in the north are our secure allies. The southern Shiites are generally on our side but if the Shiite clergy issue a proclamation, all bets are off and we'll be looking at a huge increase in the geographical scope of the guerrilla war. In either event, we have to ask whether it's worth the blood and whether we can succeed. Nothing to date has indicated that we have correctly assessed those odds.
Keep on discounting the messenger if that makes you feel like your tooth fairy is alive and well. Don't forget, however, that sometimes it's the message that's knocking at your door in the middle of the night, carrying a knife and with evil in it's heart. There are times when we should be afraid and a realistic view of those fears should govern our actions. Iraq is that place and that time, even if it's not you that's hearing the knocking. |
