And I keep
thinking,” Would all this be happening if we hadn’t:”

1. Invaded their
country (under false pretenses) in the first place? Or

2. Had
invaded with THE POWELL/VIETNAM DOCTRINE’S OVER- WHELMING FORCE AND ENOUGH TROOPS TO SECURE THE COUNTRY, MAKING
IT QUICKLY PACIFIED AND SAFE FOR
US AND THE POPULACE, OR

3. Got in,
removed Sadaam, and then got out—“liberated Iraq”– like we told the American people
and the world and Iraqis that we were going to do.

4. A little historical research and applied intelligence could have told Bush et
al—America’s highest leadership?– that

a.) Ambassador’s
Bremer’s firing the million man military
and all Bathists (instead of replacing the leadership and letting them help
secure and protect their country), knowing they had no jobs or means of
supporting their families, therefore, with plenty of time(24/7) on their hands,
and access to large caches of Saddam-stored weapons and equipment,
munitions and explosives, etc. would
result in two new categories of Iraqis:

(1) “Insurgents” These persons would have
to be labeled “insurgents” and then killed, as they would resist and fight,
like all people (perhaps like you and I?) who oppose being invaded, occupied,
and controlled by foreigners (especially if they are of a different culture and
language and religion and ethnic groups than you, who have shown themselves to
be aggressive and ignorant, arrogant and destructive of buildings, utilities,
infrastructure and anyone opposing them). These “insurgents,” if not controlled
or killed, would resist, fight, and seek to drive out the foreigners (that’s
US) who invaded and poorly-occupied their country and homeland through years of destructive activities that a historically
dumb U.S. President originally declared to be “a Crusade.” They would notice
that we protected the oil infrastructure while allowing civilization’s oldest
and priceless objects and treasures to be looted, saw to it that U.S.-Western Oil
Corporations obtained lucrative contracts and access to oilfields (from which,
previously, they were excluded), and
built sixteen or several massive, military, neocon-desired “bases of influence’
in Iraq and the world’s largest embassy in Baghdad. They, as we in similar
circumstances, would have opposed such “impositions.”

2. And “Terrorists” This category of persons would include anyone
opposing us and shooting at or attempting to kill the pervasive invading and
occupying American military and civilian
horde. And it would include—thanks to our willful and
arrogant ignorance and
“removal-of-control”—any of the Shia or the Sunnis who could be counted on to
start killing us or their “opposition Muslims”( whom they may have considered
to be infidel—not authentic Muslims—and who, therefore, needed killing, as Catholics and Protestants in
Europe had once warred upon each other for centuries. For they, too, considered co-existence
unthinkable and had not yet begun to conceive of anything so wonderful and
peaceful and liberating as Religious Liberty, freedom of conscience and freedom from
religious coercion enforced by government, in a society of peace and respect
for the dignity and rights of every human being.

So, whether
they were attacking us as alien invaders or each other as misguided and
dangerous infidels, we would have to see these persons , to whom we gave their
new-found freedom, as “insurgents” and “terrorists” who needed to be controlled
or killed. Because our top leadership
did not consult (or would not listen to) our military and historical experts,
they were shocked to discover that they did not let a Genie out of the Middle
East bottle, but the bottled up fury and hatred of violent members of the Sunni
and Shia factions, who would pick up on their warring-fighting that had been
suppressed, thus engaging in an Iraqi Civil War.

Few of us
like to consider or accept our guilt or actions taken in our name as violations
or abuses of freedom. And we can always say, “We are not
responsible for what others do in their freedom.” I suppose that’s true. On the other hand, it can also be said that
our intrusive presence and our ill-considered actions had very predictable results
for which we are responsible. There were
no or few “insurgents” and “terrorists” there until we decided to go to Iraq and to stay in Iraq. For many years. What led to the creation and then the killings
of so many “insurgents” and “terrorists,” and Iraqi military and civilians? Arguably, it was our prolonged presence, and including our less than thoughtful
and constructive and peaceful actions.

I think,
related to this, is the fact that our patriotic and courageous veterans are
committing suicide at unprecedented rates and in unprecedented numbers. Iraqi
civilians, I believe, have not been the only (to use Secretary of Defense
Rumsfeld’s phrase) “collateral damage” of our “preventive,” war of choice in
Iraq.

Speaking of suicides:
Researchers have pointed out that the only places where individual “suicide
bombers” have chosen to make their costly protests (aside from Israel) are the Arab countries in which we have had a
continuing military presence.