Time for this one to go home

For some time this writer has been agonizing over the position that I should take as regards the US occupation of Iraq; whether the US should stay and battle the “insurgents” until Iraq has stabilized (whatever that means, and who measures that stability?), level the place, or simply throw up our hands and back away. There are arguments (always arguments) pro and con for each of these positions, some good, some bad, and the conclusions of any of them probably moot.

Initially, I vociferously rejected our right to invade that unhappy place, argued with anyone who would listen and bombarded my congressional reps with plea’s to vote against any extension of the War Powers Resolution ( War Powers Act is a different animal), to no avail. But even as I was doing that, I, too, shared that rage that made me want to bomb someone, although not just anyone. I did not believe, and was not convinced at the time, of the claims the administration put forth about the presence of WMD or even see any relevance to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. It looked to me to be an excuse to bomb that “anyone.” Time, of course, has shown initial reluctance to invade to have been the correct stance and the singular motives for that particular use of American force to have been ulterior.

Regardless, we are in Iraq and we are “bogged down.”

Again, we can argue about how long we should stay, is the Iraqi Provisional government legitimate, is democracy on the march, will the oil continue to flow and every other damn side issue until we are blue in the face, but at the end of the day, we are left to face the reality of the situation: our intent was base, the Iraqis are being arbitrarily slaughtered, and it’s none of our business. The Iraqis are not insurgents and they are not terrorists, they are not engaged in a civil war; they are a sovereign nation repelling a foreign invasion.

It’s time to come right out and say it: we progressives, Democrats, socialists and leftists and Greens, and yes, Republicans of every stripe need to unambiguously declare that the Iraqi people are engaged in their own anti-colonial resistance against an illegal US armed invasion and occupation, and admit that they have an inherent right to fight back with whatever means is at their disposal against that invasion and occupation of their country.

Therefore, we are required to withdraw, and do it immediately, for legal reasons, for the sake of our troops, for the sake of the national treasury, for the sake of our immortal souls, for the sake of the children of Iraq and for God’s sake, because it’s the moral thing to do and it’s the correct thing to do, and let the Iraqi people sort out their own destiny.

Now.