Teetering on Civil War
February 24th, 2006 at 11:24 am by Mark
Tags: blogitude, iraq, military, politics, terrorism
Things look bad in Iraq, no two ways about it. Kelter at Blogitude somehow managed to throw it a positive spin.
Regarding the Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations which have undoubtedly had a hand in this week’s events:
These are the people the new Iraqi Parliament know are the root of their problems. Now, it’s up to them to step up, to get their people to ignore the difference between Sunni and Shiite, to steel them against the monsters of the past, to channel their energy into rebuilding and innovation, and to unify them as One Nation, Under Allah.
Since Iraq’s current President and Parliament have told the U.S. to step back and stop meddling when we told them we wouldn’t throw any money towards “sectarian politics,” it should look pretty good to the Iraqi public. Leveraging that and getting their military in shape to handle internal crises should give them an edge.
It took the the U.S. eighty years to go from Ruled to Independence to Government to Civil War to Resolution to United Nation. On the other hand, Iraq is averaging one step per year. In the grand scheme of History, it’s a major accomplishment.
An even bigger accomplishment would be to keep it up at the same pace… It’s doubtful that Iraq could at all survive a year of Civil War.
February 24th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
It’s always difficult to foresee how things will go following a period of civil unrest or war. But the fact is, following those times, all but a few nations have emerged for the better. In many respects, it’s also a blessing that their military isn’t “in shape” as of yet, as a sectarian split with a fully armed trained military could be devastating to a lot more people.
None of this is meant to say that what’s going on is a “good” thing. The senseless killing of innocents is heinous, but it’s a good time for us to step back, and allow Iraq to prove itself once and for all.
I, for one, think that President Talabani and company are at an important crossroads, and have an important opportunity in front of them that’s more important than any Golden Mosque. The way that they’re conducting themselves thus far shows initiative, and affords them a great deal of respect from their public. It’s an important step in unification.
Sometimes you have to take your silver linings wherever you might find them.