How an Arrogant America Robbed Iraq of Its Self-Respect

http://www.northstarwriters.com/ct052.htm

September 10, 2007

How an Arrogant America Robbed Iraq of Its Self-Respect

At the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it’s heartening to realize that someone seems to have learned a critical lesson of the Iraq debacle.

Not surprisingly, those now wiser are seven troops on the ground – one specialist, four sergeants, and two staff sergeants. They recently outlined their combat and other experiences in the editorial pages of The New York Times.

“In the end,” they conclude, “we need to recognize that our presence may have released the Iraqis from a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect (italics added). They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to call us what we are – an army of occupation – and force our withdrawal.”

Just how did we Americans rob the Iraqis of their self-respect? By “saving” them from a tyrant when they never asked for our help, Ahmad Chalabi’s lobbying not withstanding. He doesn’t count. He hadn’t lived in Iraq for years and is believed by some to have been a paid agent for Iran all along.

It’s the height of arrogance to presume that we know what’s best for another country, especially when there are so many problems in our own nation that we are busy ignoring, denying, sweeping under the rug, etc. The United States may be a perfectionist nation, but that does not mean this country is perfect by any measure. And since we cannot walk on water, it is folly for us to presume to tell others how they should negotiate their sands or jungles.

Of course, the initial justification for invading a country that had no connection to the attacks six years ago was to keep said tyrant, Saddam Hussein, from using purported weapons of mass destruction against the United States. When the WMDs never materialized, evaporating the rationale for pre-emptive war faster than dew under the scorching desert sun, our leaders then proclaimed the mission to be “liberation” from despotism.

Don't blame a nation for its unelected dictator. Although why anyone thinks we can get rid of Bush without violence, or even impeachment, puzzles me.