"Staying the Course" is a Death Sentence For Troops and Civilians

Stardate 4598.2

I was scanning the news headlines this morning as always, and something jumped right out at me. One headline says "Bush dismisses calls to abandon mission in Iraq" and directly above it, the headline "More U.S. soldiers and civilians killed in Iraq". Now maybe the link between these isn't obvious to a lot of people, but to me, the second headline always appears, every day, like clockwork. In fact, every time Bush says "Stay the Course", the second headline comes up even more frequently.

With the quagmire that is post Hussein Iraq right now, and the insurgent violence occuring every single day, I seriously question whether the people and the country are better off now that they are "liberated" than when Hussein was in charge. Many aspects have changed for the better, such as the fear of getting gassed by your own government, but of course now, you could get blown up instead. The old rape rooms are gone, but of course, there have been stories of such things happening since the occupation began. There used to be power, and now... well, there's power if your lucky.

So if, in fact, the people are no better off than before, why stay? Halliburton's massive NO-BID contracts? Okay, there's a good reason. To save the embarrasment of waging a war based on lies, changing the story to suggest liberation of the people and then being impotent in dealing with the inevitable insurgency afterwards? Another good reason. That being said, are these reasons good enough for all of those devoted and decent soldiers to get killed for? What about the civilians? Before you say, wait a minute! All those terrorists and Al Qaida guys are the ones blowing these people up... think about it. There wasn't a large, organized Al-Qaida presence in Iraq until after the US invasion. The insurgents wouldn't be there if there wasn't an occupying army in every corner of the country.

Let's see what Wikipedia says about "Insurgency"... (emphasis added)

An insurgency is an armed rebellion by any irregular armed force that rises up against an established authority, government, administration or occupation. Those carrying out an insurgency are "insurgents". Insurgents conduct sabotage and harassment. Insurgents are usually in opposition to a civil authority or government primarily in the hope of improving their condition.

So let's get this straight. In World War II, the French Resistance was an insurgency. To say anything different is preposterous in my opinion. They fought secretly against the German occupation to free their land and return the way of life they had to their people. These men and women were hailed as heroes by the West, and used ANY means necessary to destroy the German presence in their country.

In modern era Iraq, the insurgents are doing the same thing. They may not be heroes to the west, but they are trying through every means possible, to remove the occupying army from their country. Now, the stakes are much higher however. Every anti-American terrorist organisation in the Middle East has a new presence in Iraq, and are helping these insurgents fight against the US. I will not say there were no terrorists in Iraq before the invasion, but the number has likely increased at an amazing rate since. They will use the occupation to their own ends and it is showing up painfully on the news every day.

As long as the occupation continues, the attacks will continue and most likely increase in both frequency and intensity. As long as there is an American presence in Iraq, more and more *real* terrorists will jump the borders from neighboring countries. Until the US gets their army out of Iraq, more and more US soldiers are going to die. More and more civilians are going to die.

Save lives. Get out now.