American Views Abroad

 
The bipartisan report on the war in Iraq has two story lines. One leads to an admission of a 'grave and deteriorating' situation. 'The current approach is not working, and the ability of the United States to influence events is diminishing.' Hardly news when one tunes into the nightly news here. The other is whether the President is going to accept its findings. The impression is one of threading gently but forcefully, don't 'set off the president' but try to 'box him in' according to the IHT. Meanwhile, chaos and unabated suffering continue in Iraq. Attention in the US media will most probably turn to the second story line while the rest of the world watches, shaking its head.

Two commentaries this week get to the real heart of the matter. When Iraq Went Wrong in the IHT Tim Pritchard writes:

'But what was most striking at Nasiriya in those very early days of the war was the refusal of freedom-deprived Iraqis to come forward and support coalition forces. At best, civilians stood by and watched the American war machine thunder into town. At worst, they ran to arms stashes, grabbed AK-47s and took to the streets. Four days into the invasion, and already, instead of coming together, Iraqis were falling back into their faiths and tribes and killing coalition forces and each other. ......If the details of what happened at Nasiriya had been gathered, recognized and analyzed more soberly early on, instead of trampled on in a rush of triumphalism, coalition forces might have learned useful lessons for the reconstruction of Iraq: the limits of military power, the importance of a proper understanding of the complexity of a place and its people, the perils of underestimating an enemy.'
www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/05/opinion/edprit.php.

The limits of military power, the importance of a proper understanding of the complexity of a place and its people. Can't be repeated enough these days.

Michael Schwartz in The Myth of More writes:

'......American presence, however much it has failed, is nonetheless ameliorating intractable internal problems among the Iraqis. This is the fundamental fallacy of the Myth of More. In fact, the American invasion and occupation of Iraq have visited a series of plagues on both the Iraqi and the American people ---- and on the world as a whole; and these plagues will have no hope of amelioration until the US military genuinely withdraws from that country or is expelled.' www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120606F.shtml.
- posted by Gloria @ 2:39 PM