Omar,
Your perspective on the lessons learned by the individuals who comprise the administrations of the United States and Iraq during the last four years is interesting. It is unfortunate for the people of both countries that their presumptive leaders did not demonstrate a marginal interest in and understanding of history, particularly as far as democracy is concerned. United States Republican and Democratic leaders, representing a simple majority of their constituents, voted overwhelmingly to invade Iraq to depose its leader, who was generally believed to possess “WMD” and intended to use said WMD against people other than citizens of his country. A majority of US citizens believed that the Iraqi people would seize the opportunity to govern themselves, and you would, as a whole, embrace democracy. We would, in the form of our military, provide public safety, and in the form of our money, provide public incentive and repairs to/replacement of the infrastructure we had destroyed by our invasion of your country. Events did not unfold the way the American people believed they would. Four years later, the majority of the American people have come to the conclusion that this is not our war. It is the war for the businesses (of a number of countries, not just American, British and Iraqi) who have profited on losses sustained by both Iraqis and Americans.
The American Revolution which resulted in the Declaration of Independence and the eventual formation of the United States of America, lasted less than eight years. It was fought by Europeans on lands they occupied far from their original homes. Both the British and those people who were willing to sacrifice their lives for a new type of government fought each other for years without assistance (except for what they received from the people whose land they had occupied) from other countries. Democracy could not have been imposed on the revolutionaries by an outside agent. It was something they wanted and for which they were willing to work and sacrifice. After nearly four years, the revolutionaries accepted assistance from other countries, which certainly helped them. The situation in Iraq bears little to no resemblance to the formation of a democratic union. All the assistance we can possibly give the Iraqi people will not result in a true democracy. The United States’ democratic foundation has been severely eroded over the past fifty years. How can we help you? We need to work on repairing our own at this point.
I have family members fighting for a chance for the stabilization of your country. It is demoralizing to U.S. soldiers and Marines to see that although their experiences with Iraqi people show them very human people who experience trauma daily, it also shows them people who may be nice to their faces even while they betray them and do not particularly desire the democracy the soldiers picture. Although there is sympathy for people, trust continues to be limited. Your people did not even invite us, so that is understandable. To be quite fair, their experience of betrayal began on U.S. soil, when their “leaders” sent them to battle unprepared to fight a giant that could not be overcome with gunpowder. They have been sent, ill-equipped, and often, self-equipped, to fight someone else’s battles for four years now by a Republican President and a Republican Congress. The Republican senators and representatives who adhere to “their President and party” are neglecting their duties as representatives of their people. The Democrats who are willing to abrogate the responsibilities of their office in order to ensure a Democratic President and congressional majority in 2008 are no better. Their job is still to represent their people and uphold the Constitution, which they are not doing by continuing to fund the occupation of Iraq. Our government is supposed to be of, for and by the people – not vice versa. Let us find other ways to support you in your struggle; the casualties we jointly endure, inflict and ignore are not working.
