What a difference a month can make! I think we’re starting to see a sea change in the Iraq rhetoric, of course catalyzed by the New York Times article yesterday entitled, A War We Just Might Win. The big deal about this article, as others have pointed out, isn’t so much that it presents startling new facts, but that these facts are presented by a startling source–people who are a part of the left side of the political spectrum.
If nothing else, the article has breathed some hope into those who’ve been supporting the war all along, and have felt that we’re losing the battle on the home front. That’s definitely my position. A couple weeks ago, I was feeling despondent and pessimistic about this country’s future, and now I feel a little breath of fresh air. Maybe we’ll be able to stick with what we promised we’d do until the Iraqis are capable of taking over the defense and governance of their own country. It really bothered me that we were so ready, as a whole, to throw up our hands and give up on something because it was hard and unpleasant… because a country needs resolve to stay intact. If we set a precedent of backing down when the going gets tough, it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that we’ll never stick it out to follow through on anything that we’ve promised to do. Why not, then, as an enemy of the United States, just bide your time and wait until the electorate gets bored, complacent and irritable?
I hope that this war can be ended soon–but ended with a stable and capable Iraq where people have safe streets and the basic necessities of life–water, power, sewers that work, that kind of thing. And pulling out our troops without roundly defeating the insurgents is hardly likely to create that kind of situation! I wish we’d think a little more about the people of Iraq and a little less about the Americans in Iraq… and what would be best for these people who’ve had so little for so long. It would be nice if we’d track and report trends in Iraqi casualties instead of the running totals of Americans lost in the country. I, for one, would like to know when there is a month in which considerably fewer Iraqis were killed in the sectarian violence. And I know that Iraqis notice that the Western media is solely concerned with Western deaths. It’s a selfish and ethnocentric way for us to deal with a terrible and tragic situation.
But I was talking about hope! Oops… and truthfully, I’m starting to experience it again. Maybe even the tiniest sprout of regained confidence in the will of my nation to do the right thing and keep our word, even though it hurts. (Though I’m sure it won’t outlast the next elections… )
Posted by Kjirstin 
