To the editor:
Our involvement in Iraq is a mess and none of our political leaders’ suggestions about what to do make any sense. The reason is that all reasons so far forwarded seem to be Pollyannaish.
Everyone seems to hold out hope that the major Iraqi religious and ethnic groups can make peace with each other and that somehow, outsiders can be held back from meddling or worse, inciting more problems. My knowledge and recollection of the history of the region and its constituent groups and the present state of inter-group affairs gleaned from history books, present and former leaders and officials statements in the middle east, testimony from experts before several congressional committees, and the latest Intelligence Estimate rendered by our intelligence services all lead me to face the grim reality that we cannot militarily stop mayhem in that region of the world and that the people there seem disinterested or incapable of resolving their own disputes and barbaric violence. We cannot impose peace.
The nations of Turkey, Syria, Bahrain, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, as well as Iraq all have varying sectarian interests in, economic ties and aspirations with, fear potential refugee problems as a result of, share military fears as a result of, and share old historic hatreds concerning the various ethnic, religious, and past political histories in Iraq and the region. Everyone over there, it seems, has one or more reasons to avoid helping to settle Iraq’s (and the region’s) arguments, problems, and turmoil.
For the present, it seems hopeless and our continued presence is either putting off the horrible inevitable Iraqi chaos and civil war as well as regional disruption and likely war or we are actively worsening those unstoppable outcomes. People in that region have been warring for millennia, have been victimized by European domination and cruelty, and share a religious and social lifer that we likely will never understand.
We are, by our religion, our political and social systems, and by our presence in that region, an enemy and a stimulus for violence. Our status in that area is not going to improve.
It is time to get ourselves out, now! Stop our pouring hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of our brave and honorable military and civilian lives for a lost cause. It’s beyond our ability to solve. When will we face reality?
Ken Petress
Presque Isle
