Sep 04 2006
Iraq Wants Us To Stay And Help Finish The Job
How often does a nation like America get a request to change history and bring a people out of the darkness of dictotorship and into the light of democracy? How many times will we have a major Muslim leader ask us to help him save Islam from its fascist wing, and has commited to be our ally? When Ned Lamont cries “runaway” is he thinking about history or is he just doing the bidding of his rabidly anti-war (which means do nothing ever) faction?
In fact, he was here to deliver a message, and ask a question, on behalf of Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who remains Iraq’s single most influential figure — and the linchpin of the past 40 months of political reconstruction. Sistani’s message to Bush, Mahdi told a group of reporters I joined last week, was that “Iraqis are sticking to the principles of the constitution and democracy.” But the ayatollah wanted to know if the United States is still on board as well.
“It’s a critical moment. We want to be sure that we understand perfectly what’s going on, and what is the real strategy of the United States in Iraq,” Mahdi said. “We read in the press about different perspectives and attitudes. That’s why we want to be clear — whether there is a Plan B.”
Political neophyte Ned Lamont needs to answer this request for himself. He needs to explain why we would turn our back on the very kind of influential moderate Muslim leader we need standing with us. Lamont needs to explain what would happen to this man and his cause if we left him and his people unprotected. Lamont has been deluding himself by buying into the naive simple answers eminating from the rabid left. “If we leave Iraq it will be OK”, they claim without any proof or conviction. Nothing worth achieving in this world is easy. And the easy answer is always a mirage built out from a lack of will and conviction. The ‘runaway’ crowd (think Python’s Holy Grail) think they can device a wooden rabbit and pull magic solution out of the magic hat of liberalism.
But we need real answers, not slogans. Why should we run from the Iraqis now, after all this time? Because the left is squeemish? No one is even asking them to do anything! This is a volunteer army meeting its recruitment goals because this is good and honorable effort. If they don’t want to fight terrorists don’t enlist. But don’t pretend to tell everyone else they need to cower in the corners as well. They can make their own choices.
And we need to listen to the Iraqi leaders, not Ned Lamont or the KosKids who have never even been in Iraq. For what the Iraqi are saying is wise and makes complete sense
For the most part, our queries were politely and somewhat laconically dismissed. Iraq is not in a civil war, Mahdi said, and doesn’t need more U.S. troops. It has a constitution and elected government, and thus there is no need for an international conference. As for constitutional reform, the Shiite and Kurd parties that wrote the charter last year are waiting for proposals from Sunni dissidents. Mahdi added: “So far we have heard nothing.”
So what is the solution? “Time — that is it,” Mahdi replied. “A nation like Iraq needs time. The elections for a permanent government happened eight months ago. We have been in office a few weeks. The people who we have in office have never governed. These people come from oppression and a bad political system. We can’t import ministers to Iraq. There will be many mistakes. The Americans made many mistakes, and Iraqis had to support that.”
With that kind of insight and wisdom, Mahdi would make a better US Senator than whiny little Lamont. Thankfully the country still has Joe Lieberman to look towards for a mature vision.
Update: News that Al Qaeda’s number 2 man in Iraq has been captured is also another indication that we need this alliance with Iraq. The flypaper premise about Iraq attracting the Islamo Fascists has proven to be true. Instead of trying to flock here, through are defenses, the terrorists have been going to Iraq to be martyred in the thousands (since the cost and risk of gettig to Iraq is so much lower than getting to America). So why are we running away again? So people like the number 2 Al Qaeda leader in Iraq would be freed up to set his sites on America?
Update: More here on the differences between the left and the righ regarding Iraq and the war on terror (and other issues).
AJ
I equate them with movie critics, they are loud, believe their own opinions and usually wrong for the mainstream america.
sistani is in favor of a timetable for all foreign forces to withdraw from iraq. that’s essentially the same as ned lamont’s position.
as for what the overall iraqi public opinion, it’s overwhelmingly in favor of an american pullout
as an aspiring arabic speaker who tries to talk to iraqis via skype as much as possible to practice, it’s quite difficult to find an iraqi who doesn’t want the u.s. to leave.
http://regimeofterror.com/archives/2006/09/terrorizing_baghdad_together/
That al Qaeda bigshot that was caught was also ex IIS.
Funny how those “ideologoical enemies” have almost blended into one mass. The Baathist/al-Qaeda overlaps in postwar Iraq is overwhelming to those who have followed it for the last three years.
Please read the link above for more details.
Saddam Mukhabarat agent, worked for al-Qaeda Abu al Masri (who’s been in Baghdad since 2002), worked for Zarqawi, and still coordinated cooperation between al-Qaeda and the Saddam loyalists…….hmmmm…..is anyone in the media curious when that cooperation began?
abu al-masri is an egyptian, not an iraqi. i know people keep trying to rebrand him as an iraqi, who worked for saddam and everything. the funny thing is that his name means “the egyptian” (“masr” means egypt in arabic).
it’s fun to watch people who don’t know arabic talk about the region. a lot of the errors that they make are really quite comical
He is an Egyptian, but many of his followers were Iraqis. As far as that is concerned Zarqawi was a Jordanian. So? The people he killed were mostly Iraqis. It is funny to see people dance around that as if it did not matter.
Sistani has not got the same position as Lamonts, which is vamoose asap. Sistani has always said there should be an understanding that once the Iraqis can do a better job with their own security there needs to be a withdrawl of coalation forces. He has never said he wants everyone out now.
I want the Iraqi’s to know that I have had a purple ribbon tied at the tip of the pole that displays my American flag…in my front yard for all to see. It has been there since their election…and it will stay there until Iraqi’s are free.
11 million braved the hatred of the terrorists to vote….having a purple ribbon (and finger on election day!) is the least I can do.
He is an Egyptian, but many of his followers were Iraqis. As far as that is concerned Zarqawi was a Jordanian. So? The people he killed were mostly Iraqis. It is funny to see people dance around that as if it did not matter.
i think you’re missing my point. saddam mukhabarat employed iraqi nationals. saddam didn’t trust foreigners. you couldn’t get a job with his secret police unless you had an iraqi passport. the poster above said that abu al-masri was one of saddam’s agents. but he was the wrong nationality. that’s all i was trying to say
upyernoz, i never said al masri was mukhabarat,
i said that he al masri has had friends in the mukhabarat since at least a year before the invasion, yes, foreign al qaeda members who were in baghdad, mosul and in the kurdish areas were working closely together for about a year before the invasion and still are to this day.
if that isn’t clear let me know and ill provide links/support as needed
It is asonishing to me that a liberal can seemingly research all the news like our resident troll does, but come to the conclusiions he has done. How can he say we are not in any danger from the terrorists? How can he say that it would be a good thing for us to pull out of Iraq and leave the oilfields to the terrorists? How can he even say that the Iraqi people want us out now when they have to know we are there to protect them? I think this guy only reads the opinions of Sunnis and I will admit that these people do want us out preferably before Saddam is hanged.