It is time for Americans to chose their sides in Iraq. And to provide context to that choice (and remove the Bush Derangement Illness from the debate) we have this story of US Marines working to destroy Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). From this we have all we need to make our choices. We begin with the brutality (conveniently missing from our major news media outlets, since it would change the dynamic of our needed national debate):

Under the command of Captain Mark Broekhuizen, Golf 2/8 had been making slow inroads in Saqliwiah (“sack-la-wee-ah”), a village on the northwestern outskirts of Fallujah. Finding Iraqi partners to step forward was tough, primarily because of an inability to locate and deal with the local Sheik. Lacking active cooperation from the Sheik and his people, it was difficult to gain the Intel necessary to drive both Islamic fundamentalist and Shia-oriented terror groups from the land.

“AQI is both feared and hated,” Capt Broekhuizen said, referring to Al Qaeda in Iraq. “They’ve been running a brutal terror campaign. No city leaders are left here who will take a leadership role.” Marines from Golf Company said they recently fished two bodies out of the local river: a man had been decapitated, and his 4-year old tied to his leg before both were thrown into the river and the little boy drowned. The killings were a product of Al Qaeda terror.

A four year old boy tied to his father’s dead body in order to drown the boy. These are the animals we face. These are the animals Iraq is facing. And our choice is to face them in Iraq or here. Because they are coming after us. It is only a question of on who’s terms do we engage them. Bush wants us to control the matter, Dems want to run away and give the thugs access to unlimited resources, and therefore more opportunities to tie our children to our decapitated corpses. And don’t think these butchers would do it or don’t dream about doing it. So that is one option – let this brutality survive and actually thrive, or take it head one. Which is the other part of the story:

Last night, 4th Platoon won a small victory in the battle against AQI. Under the command of Lieutenant Anthony Friel, four Marine humvees on patrol spotted a white Toyota parked close to a house along the Euphrates River. Both the Toyota and the house looked suspicious. Quickly, the Marines surrounded the latter, and knocked on the door.

Inside the house were several young men (with dubious identification), women and children, as well as an older man. The squad leader, Corporal Jon Bates, and his Marines thoroughly searched the young Iraqis. After discovering one ID marked in English “Progressive Mosque Security,” a subsequent search of the young man’s Toyota turned up sophisticated IED triggering devices, a pressure plate and an AK-47. Two were detained.

…

As it turned out, the older gentleman was the real prize. He was Sheik “X”, the local Okhash tribal elder, and he was fully aware of how the Marines and Sheiks were cooperating in rebuilding Ramadi thirty miles west

…

The Sheik added that it was “Iranians and foreigners” who were destabilizing his tribal area. “Iranians are forcing out the doctors and teachers. Soon this town will look like Afghanistan.”

He invited the Lieutenant and others to share his dinner, where the discussions and negotiations continued. Sheik X wants the “same deal” as the Marines and Sheiks cut in Ramadi. In that area, the Marines handle overall security, and permit the locals and tribal elders a degree of freedom to handle local security.

We have no choice. We are not going to go back to the naively blissful 1990’s. They were a facade and now history anyway. We have but one mission right now, which is to contain this plague on humanity. So that our children and their children are not cowering in their homes wondering if they will be the next one tied to the body of a loved one and dumped in the river.