Thereafter the US forces avoided the market places like the plague and their daily routine in Baghdad devolved into something akin to:
In the morning, a US convoy drove not to the market place but to the top of a hill from where it could surveil the land below it.
A hill? In Baghdad? High enough that someone could surveil a populated marketplace with surrounding buildings?
Are you serious? Please name the place this hill was located.. Grid please.. 6 digit coordinate will suffice...
Because the only hills I saw near Baghdad were MAN-MADE.. The dirt gouged out to create the various lakes that Saddam enjoyed around his palaces.. And we occupied most of those palaces.. And the hill on our base was quite high (maybe 200 feet), but I could not see into any actual neighborhoods from it's heights.
That causes me to question your sources.. Mosul, definitely.. Baghdad? No way.. Show me..
Here's a topographic map to assist your efforts..
maps.google.com
to convince people that the US was on top of everything in Iraq and that the Iranians are evil and vile folks.
Hardly.. we made a huge number of mistakes, starting with disbanding the Iraqi army and humiliating hundreds of thousands of men, sending them packing with an AK-47 and a chip on their shoulder.. All thanks to Paul Bremer..
We made another huge mistake by alienating the Anbar tribes and not engendering their support (buying them off, as Saddam had done for years).. So that humiliated the Tribal Shaykhs, leaving them flailing for the resources to take care of their tribal members.. which humiliated them in the eyes of their people.. So, of course, they were pissed off.. also.. thanks to Paul Bremer..
People tried to tell him.. (I knew a few of these people).. but he ignored their analysis under the mistaken belief that everything had to be totally rebuilt from the ground up..
Paul Bremer, and those who advised him, are to blame, IMO, for the travesty that took place in Iraq and led to the needless loss of lives..
Personally speaking, I have REALLY LIKE almost every Iranian I've met.. In fact, I met an Iranian fellow in Thailand a few months ago on a diving trip.. He had left his country a few months earlier because there was nothing left for him there.. He was studying (I won't say what to protect his identity potentially being uncovered).. He was so upset that the people can't seem to muster the will, or capability, to overthrow the Ayatollah's stooge government and return Iran to a peaceful and prosperous nation.
I spent quite a bit of time discussing it with him and encouraged him not to give up hope... That he should act, as he can, to encourage his fellow Iranians to join forces and fight for the freedom of their country. I reminded him that if the Iranian people show the fortitude and sacrifice to wage that struggle, the American people would be there to support their efforts to bring freedom and REAL democracy to their nation.. I hope I planted a seed that will grow within him and give him courage..
Freedom isn't free.. In fact, it's actually not natural given nature's predilection to "Alpha Males" intent on subjugation and exploitation..
But EVERY SANE PERSON wants to have the ability to have a say in how they are governed. Democracy is never imposed.. It is only unleashed within the spirits and hearts of every man and woman.. But they will always be confronted with those who think they know better how those people should live their lives..
But we (Americans) didn't create this world.. We just have to attempt to survive and thrive amidst the the cruelty and corruption.. (like those 9 civilians that Taliban bomber, or the 7 innocent hostages that were reported killed in Nigeria by your beloved Islamist militants).. We are still the only nation, so far as I know, that holds the belief that human rights are unalienable, bestowed by their god, and not some mortal governmental power..
Maybe someday they will get their chance at showing you their hospitality and you can discuss your views with them before they behead you..
Hawk |
