From a mailing list I'm on, in discussing violence in Iraq:
Most of the victims of the bombings are not US soldiers. They're everyday Iraqis just trying to get a job, worship or buy dinner. We uncorked the bottle, but in certain ways I wonder if we're incidental. Put it this way, if we left tomorrow, would this still be going on?
I feel the need to suddenly chime in with this: Yes, it would. This country has been a site for violence and upheaval a lot longer than we've been there.
No, I don't think we're right to be there, I just think that, unfortunately, the country is populated with unsatisfied and violent factions of people who haven't learned that playing nice is an option. Shiite? Sunni? Kurdish? All struggling for top positions whether their cause is political or religious. Iraq is a place filled with many people who think that violence is the answer. Before we got there, ordinary folk who were get trying to get a job, worship or buy dinner could randomly be grabbed from their homes in the middle of the night and tortured. Our arrival on the scene and deposing (deposition?) of their leader brought the violence into the forefront. I don't think it will go back into the "we don't talk about that because we're afraid" background when (and if) we leave.
The violence was always there, it's just that now car bombs and insurrection are the latest style. It's not completely our fault.
No comments:
Post a Comment