Excellent article in the Army Times today by a Navy lieutenant named Jason Nichols and Dave Thul, a staff sergeant. Both currently serving in Iraq:
It takes commitment to build democracy
After four years in Iraq, what have we gained?
As we enter the fifth year of this conflict, much of the talk is of loss, but it is important to understand what we’ve reaped from our efforts. We should honor the price paid by acknowledging the accomplishments and opportunities created by those who have sacrificed and suffered. These insights will encourage us to complete what was begun.
First, we have prevented a second Sept. 11-style attack. As 9/11 becomes history rather than memory for many people, they forget that nearly every terrorism and foreign policy analyst predicted another attack within a few years as a near certainty, and thought a nuclear attack very likely. Few predict that now, and it is because of our actions in Iraq. By bringing the fight to the Middle East, we’ve occupied not only al-Qaida but the funds and manpower of other extremist financiers and planners. It is much easier, and more militarily sound, to defend your country by taking the fight to the enemy than it is to turn your own society into an armed camp. Both the military and the American public can be justifiably proud of this accomplishment.
Second, and far more importantly, we’ve enacted a strategy to defeat the source of the threat. That source is Islamic fascists and their oppression of their own people through dictatorial governments. Had we stopped after Afghanistan, that source would have been untouched. Lack of freedom brings poverty, and poverty brings desperation and hate. Dictators use the West as a scapegoat, blaming us for their people’s poverty to help keep their citizens from rebelling. They warp religious teachings and combine them with this desperation to create weapons out of naive young men with no opportunities for a happy life. Iraq offers a way out for the entire region.
Democracy in Iraq will bring freedom and, in time, wealth and opportunity. Iraq’s location is strategically ideal, bordering nearly all other Middle East countries with varying degrees of dictatorship. The young people in those countries have seen the Iraqis voting, and in time they will begin to ask, “Why not us?” As Iraq’s prosperity grows, neighboring citizens will demand equal freedoms.
The extremists know this, and they fear it. They fear their own people learning that there is an alternative to poverty and dogma. Make no mistake: They have made Iraq a front line in this war because they are afraid. That is a real gain we should acknowledge and celebrate at the same time we honor any losses.
Finally, while we are bringing fear to those who would use it against civilians, we are freeing our own civilians from fear. Most Americans do not feel threatened by the fascists that send young men to die here in Iraq, and that is a good thing. We should be glad that our own countrymen are so unaffected by this war that they question its necessity, because it means we’re doing the job they pay us to do on the front line.
Those of us currently serving have a duty to inform the public on what we are doing, the importance of staying until the mission is complete, and the disastrous consequences if they withdraw us prematurely. One means at our disposal is the Appeal for Courage at http://appealforcourage.org. We would ask all of you to sign it to communicate our desire to stay in Iraq until the Iraqi military and police are capable of defending their own country. At that time, there will be a free country where none has ever existed. We will be able to look at that new democracy and proudly say, “See that? Those people are free because of us. We helped create that.”
This anniversary is a time when we should recognize that we have gained much. By remaining steadfast, we will gain much more.
— Jason Nichols and Dave Thul
Nichols is a Navy lieutenant serving as an information professional with Multi-National Forces-Iraq in Baghdad. His e-mail address is jason@appealforcourage.org. Thul is a staff sergeant with the Minnesota National Guard; he is serving with the 34th Infantry Division, conducting convoy operations from Asad, Iraq. His e-mail address is dave@appealforcourage.org.
The cut n run Democrats and Republicans see none of this. Instead they see a situation that they just want to be over. It’s been six years since 9/11 and it’s now a distant memory, no more attacks against our country so why should we worry? None of these yahoo’s can see past the next day, let alone years from now. Having a friend smack dab in the middle of the enemies region is a priceless commodity. Not to mention that once a whole region understands that Democracy can work in their country then the people inside those countries will slowly demand freedom, which encourages prosperity, which will take the hatred and bomb vest off of that middle eastern young man and put a suit on him instead.
Why is it that our leaders (50 of them anyways) cannot see long term? Cannot see the good we have done. Cannot see the accomplishments we have accomplished with a lower casualty rate then I nor anyone else could of dreamed of before we invaded.
It’s all politics baby….the security and welfare of this great country be damned.
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“Why is it that our leaders (50 of them anyways) cannot see long term? Cannot see the good we have done. Cannot see the accomplishments we have accomplished with a lower casualty rate then I nor anyone else could of dreamed of before we invaded”
Answer; “Because having eyes,they see not.Having ears they hear not”
Like the man said; “There are none so blind as those who will not see”