That Iraq is a wholly complete and unmitigated mess of our life-time is a gross understatement. Four things are clear and unequivocal:
1. The United State should never have gone to war with Humpty Dumpty (Iraq).
2. Humpty-Dumpty is broken beyond all recognition.
3. We must work 24/7 to get this commander-in-chief of idiots to step away from the controls.
4. Our military presence is making things worse, not better.
What is not clear to me: How do we (or anyone) put Humpty-Dumpty back together again?
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty was pushed to his fall.
And all the King’s horses and all the King’s men.
Could not put Humpty Dumpty together again.
Getting U.S. soldiers out of Iraq will get our troops out of harm’s way. Getting our military out of Iraq will help stem some of the violence.
But how do “we” (or “they” or anyone) stop the sectarian violence going on in Iraq? Is there any way to stop the bloodbath that will continue to occur after the U.S. pulls out? (Note: I fully recognize that the bloodbath is occurring now…not that it will materialize after we pull out, as King George would have us believe.)
Stating that “the Iraqis need to come up with a political solution” don’t make it so. Is there anything that can be done in addition to the U.S. pulling its military out of Iraq? Real people. Real families. Real men, women, and children are in Iraq today that will be dead soon. We have an obligation to protect as many of their lives as we can. But how to accomplish this? Walking away from the situation and telling the Iraqis to “Just Do It!” seems incredibly naive. Yet, every “solution” that begins with “We need to stay and help the Iraqi people…” has been disastrous.
Do any of you have thoughts? My best guess is that Iraq will not be as good as it was under Saddam for years to come. How low a bar has been set by comparing life in Iraq today with life under Saddam? It makes me so very sad.
I do believe that we have a responsibility to put Humpty Dumpty back together again as best we can. But the answer on how to do that is beyond my ken.
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but after spending most of my life as a therapist working with families in crisis, I’m likely to draw on that experience for what bits I can muster. And where that takes me is to think that the solutions would need to involve bringing folks together and listening/talking (notice which one I put first). Since this is something the current misadministration is completely incapable of doing, I sometimes actually worry that ANYTHING they do, can only make matters worse. That’s why the only political move I was interested in was impeachment. But then when the Dems caved on the FISA law, I realized there was no chance of that ever even getting started. Hence my current mood of melancholy.