Is Iraq really a lost cause?

Question

The New York Times carries a very grim story about Iraq on the front page today, complete with statistics on roadside bombings and blind quotes from senior Defense Department officials and military affairs experts. From start to finish the story conjures up the idea that Iraq is an absolute lost cause.

Am facing a dilemma.. ALL my favorites.. most admired, well respected, and best loved people at YA (whose opinions matter to me a great deal) are here..
tinfoil
gyor
hipocrisy_central
muncie_birder
Plantoneonme
John C (withdrew his answer)
and of course.. my Bender!

to make it worse, all other Answerers are equally sensible..
tmladenka
shi_utsu
Nathan F
universal
akimzero
betterdeadthansorry
snashraf

So now, am really having a hard time choosing the Best Answer.. I don't want to relinguish my right to choose and hand it over to Y Community to vote.. can anyone help me out of this impasse???

Dr. John.. the great Statistician, can you help me? Am now in the process of elimination.. I need your expertise, please! lol

Iraq is a very sensitive issue for me, someone I know from there told me "We are finished here.", for me.. those words echo the real status of Iraq and the flight of its people. My heart still refuses to believe there's no more hope for that country but the facts keep staring back at me..

Answer 1

The problem is, Iraq has been turned into a battlefront for multiple factions which seek to further disparate agendas for Iraq and against the US. Further worsening the situation is the inherent instability of Iraq itself. It's many rival factions were previously held in check by Hussein's brutal totalitarian Stalinist dictatorship.

Given all the problems, the only way that there might ever be any stability in Iraq will be through a long occupation.

I've maintained all along that we should never have been there in the first place, and more importantly we should not have withdrawn so much of our forces from Afghanistan, where the true war on terror was rightly begun and very wrongfully left dangling.

Now we are stuck in a deep quagmire in Iraq. If we exit Iraq, most certainly terrible civil war will follow and we will see another regime change and no gain for the people who have suffered so much.

It really now boils down to how do we want to let these people suffer -- with or without us?

With us, after a long struggle there may be hope. Without us, there will still be bloodshed and turmoil, but for what hope and to what end?

I wish I knew the answer.

Answer 2

Iraq does look grim now...especially when one sees the events unfolding in that poor God/Allah-forsaken country.

The terrorists are indeed stepping up their game...but the Iraqi Nation and people has to step up and fight back. It is their future that is at stake more than the USA's...and should the terrorists or whatever you want to call the Islamist freaks win by driving out the USA or destroying the current elected government; Iraq's future will be anything but bright. Unlike Vietnam who's Communist government has eventually wised up and is slowly reforming, should the Islamists win Iraq will be plunged into a dark age like what befell Afghanistan under the Taliban (remember that Islamists and the Taliban believe in the same unholy doctrines and perversions of Islam)

As for the USA...they should empower the Iraqi people to do the Islamist fighting and nation building (but unfortunately the Yanks are not doing a very good job)...then get their brave young men and women out of that nation as soon as the Iraqis actually can fight Osama and Fiends on their own (when this happens is anyone's guess).

Answer 3

It's not a lost cause but will require a long occupation. The idea that you can establish a fair and equatable Government through force is mislead. It's also developed by men who undermine the constitution and send men to war while they sit in air conditioned offices. The administration is already implying that Iraq's soil isn't compatible with the seeds of Democracy. Our actions have only made that reality worse. It's not a lost cause but the reality is to achieve anything this Administration claims we set out to do will be a long time coming and expensive. I think sentiment for this war is fading the more it costs us and I don't think we'll stay the course much longer.

Answer 4

Fact from fiction, truth from diction. You can believe all the hype and BS out of Washington by the buffoons and snake oil sellers running this snafu, or you can look at history. There has only been one, and I repeat, ONE insurgency that has ever been but down by military might, if you do not count the Bay of Pigs, and that was of the Khmer Rouge by the North Vietnamese Regulars. the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka have been fighting 25 years. The only thing that slowed them down was a tsunami. And not even that crushed them. So, to the question if rebels, insurgents, or terrorist, whatever you want to call them, replace those they loose. They do not have 50 and 70 year old insurgents. FARC in South America has been fighting more than 17year. Have not been beaten. The Mujaheddin stalled the Soviets in Afghanistan for more than 12 year and sent the mighty oviet army packing, Same as the Viet Cong sent Uncle Sam packing. The IRA in the UK decided to lay their arms down. They were not made to do it. And the French Resistance of WWII would have fought on for years if the war had not ended the Nazi regime. So you tell me? where has military might EVER gotten rid of insurgents? Maybe some deep dark corner of Sub Saharan Africa where no one plays attention, but certainly not where the press has been looking. As Jill Carol said in her interview, these so-called insurgence are dedicated. A pregnant mother of 2 wanted to be a suicide bomber and her husband was all aglow with pride. Even women are replenishing the ranks.

And, for the record. Your avatar is alright. I would say one of the top 15 best I ever seen on Answers.

Answer 5

Absolutely!! But what is very different today than during the Vietnam war is the total indifference of people. It's almost as if people feel that as long as it doesn't touch "their" personal life it doesn't exist. I feel the only people that say their is a possibility to win in Iraq are the people making money off the war. The longer it lasts the more money they can stuff in their pocket. As long as Bush is in office you will never get a TRUE accounting of the spending and waste going on in Iraq. The American people need to wake up and see where the loss of checks and balances of the two party system of democracy is a deep failure "of the people" the political system and the failure of people to "GET IT".

Answer 6

Cumbersome that the US army has to fight under our liberal and humane combat rules, and heavy public criticism towards the war and any misteps ( Abu Ghraib eg). Superior firepower and technology was always the West's advantage to win territory and overthrow rulers quickly in the Middle East, but insurgents were always the difficult aftermath ( an earlier answer pointed many classic cases out already).

Now when we accept the pretense that our western technique of installing a 'puppet regime' with some democratic features only enables to rule under heavy protection in a 'green zone' (like Kabul, Bagdad, Saigon e.g., what did local muslim leaders in the past do to pacify those regions?

Longterm consolidation of a Middle eastern islamic country has happened successfully only by applying most methods below. By comparing those historically proven ways to what the US is doing there today will tell you why this venture of the US is bound to fail.
1) Suppress any insurgents with immediate harsh punishment or execution;
2) deportation of unruly tribes to other areas;
3) forcible conversion of tribes to a single sect of Islam;
4) creation of a system of provincial governorates different from old tribal boundaries (with military at their disposal to collect taxes and surpress insurgents locally).
5) install an effective independent intelligence system to supervise local governors
6) Enhance land sales outside the traditional clan and tribal limits to forge a 'nation' from the splintered regions.
7) Enhance technological advancement. Physicians, engineers, doctors, teachers, geologists, computer specialists should not LEAVE but COME to or STAY in the country.
8) Encourage the establishment of small factories and businesses. Get free technical advice/help on communications, transport, and irrigation from United Nation organizations.

Now I don't suggest torture or say that forceful religious conversion is appropriate. But letting them now watch MTV and the freedom to play 'Grand Theft Auto' doesn't seem to do the trick.

Answer 7

The problems can only be overcome by people of Iraq. Present Government of Iraq which is responsible for peace in Iraq should interact with them and convince them that if people of Iraq are united ,there will be no need for foreign troops.
There is something wrong somewhere. Open minded policy should be followed. There are lot of arms in the hands of different groups and if foreign troops are withdrawn , there may be civil war.

Answer 8

Let me put clearly like this: From an American ponit of view, Iraq was a 100% successful cause. Bush went to Iraq to steal the oil and further divide the Middle East. To be honest and realistic, but for Saddam's brutality he would have been the best solution for Iraq.

Answer 9

iraq has been a lost cause since day one you can't win over peoples hearts and minds by dropping bombs on them last month there were more road side bombs than in any other month 60% of the violence go on over there now is committed by shiite malitias and people think the shiites are our friends eventually it will be split into three countries the kurds in the north the sunnis in the middle and the shiites in the south but bush will never do it we'll have to wait for somebody with some sense to get into office

Answer 10

The Times will be chastized by the political right for telling the truth. In a country(not a country until around 1930) inured by death and violence; last month's death total is the greatest since (greatest meaning largest) our involvement began. Our dunce cap president is fond of quoting useless lines about spreading freedom and how many lives were lost when Saddam was in power. Well, he is out of power and more lives are lost each month. It is all about the bottom line at the corporate ledger. Is that picture really you? You have it all then, beauty and brains.