The Arrogance Of Ignorance
John H. Adler
December 06, 2006
We invade a country based on unsubstantiated charges that they are developing nuclear weapons. We are warned against going in alone but who cares?
Toppling the dictatorial leader of that country, we claim victory over his armed forces.
Expecting to be welcomed with open arms by the people of the country, we learn, too late, that the majority of them preferred the Iraqi dictatorship to American occupation. To our astonishment, no viable leadership emerges to take the helm.
Oblivious to the workings of Islamic society, we stumble into a hornet’s nest. We free the suppressed masses of Shiites and thus set them against the formerly governing Sunnis.
In our ignorance, we wonder what happened. We only wanted to help. We wanted to free the subjugated masses from tyranny and convert the nation to democracy. In the process we wanted to secure a constant flow of fossil oil from Iraq who, grateful for the liberation, would become a close friend of the United States.
No sweat. We will be in and out in eighteen months, happy to have installed democracy gaining a grateful friend in the Islamic middle-east.
Our leadership does not see, does not hear and does not understand the consequences of our misadventure. In total ignorance of the subject matter and our government’s arrogance of the strength of our own might, we incited a civil war in Iraq claiming untold casualties of soldiers and innocent civilians. We were hell-bent to convert Iraqis to democracy even if it killed them.
As an outgrowth of our misadventure, we lost the respect of the world at large.
Where do we go from here? We are stuck. Immediate and total withdrawal of our troops, at this stage, would be immoral, but leaving our military in the middle of a civil war means exposing our own soldiers to unreasonable risk. Furthermore, the presence of foreign soldiers in their midst will only incite more violence. In my opinion, we should gradually withdraw from Iraq starting now and not, as planned, increase the number of our military.
There will be no peace in Iraq as long as our military remains. At present everybody is taking aim on our men and women in uniform. They have become the targets in a shooting gallery.
Let’s bite the bullet and get out by beginning repositioning of our troops starting now. We, the American public whose sons, daughters, husbands and wives are futilely risking their lives, would be very grateful.
Toppling the dictatorial leader of that country, we claim victory over his armed forces.
Expecting to be welcomed with open arms by the people of the country, we learn, too late, that the majority of them preferred the Iraqi dictatorship to American occupation. To our astonishment, no viable leadership emerges to take the helm.
Oblivious to the workings of Islamic society, we stumble into a hornet’s nest. We free the suppressed masses of Shiites and thus set them against the formerly governing Sunnis.
In our ignorance, we wonder what happened. We only wanted to help. We wanted to free the subjugated masses from tyranny and convert the nation to democracy. In the process we wanted to secure a constant flow of fossil oil from Iraq who, grateful for the liberation, would become a close friend of the United States.
No sweat. We will be in and out in eighteen months, happy to have installed democracy gaining a grateful friend in the Islamic middle-east.
Our leadership does not see, does not hear and does not understand the consequences of our misadventure. In total ignorance of the subject matter and our government’s arrogance of the strength of our own might, we incited a civil war in Iraq claiming untold casualties of soldiers and innocent civilians. We were hell-bent to convert Iraqis to democracy even if it killed them.
As an outgrowth of our misadventure, we lost the respect of the world at large.
Where do we go from here? We are stuck. Immediate and total withdrawal of our troops, at this stage, would be immoral, but leaving our military in the middle of a civil war means exposing our own soldiers to unreasonable risk. Furthermore, the presence of foreign soldiers in their midst will only incite more violence. In my opinion, we should gradually withdraw from Iraq starting now and not, as planned, increase the number of our military.
There will be no peace in Iraq as long as our military remains. At present everybody is taking aim on our men and women in uniform. They have become the targets in a shooting gallery.
Let’s bite the bullet and get out by beginning repositioning of our troops starting now. We, the American public whose sons, daughters, husbands and wives are futilely risking their lives, would be very grateful.
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