Today's horrific suicide bombing of Iraqi children and American solidiers shows the true victims of the flypaper strategy. Richard Clarke discussed attacks in Iraq today on the Al Franken show, saying that there have been over 500 suicide bombings in Iraq in the past year. Those who say - if we leave there will be chaos - are ignoring the fact that there is chaos now. Clarke recommends grants to Iraqi companies to help with reconstruction, rather than using American companies. The Iraqis have the expertise in country, why do we need foreign contractors who need military and mercenary protection to do their work?
The possible corrollary to the flypaper strategy is that when we leave, the terrorists will also leave, or the Iraqis will kick them out.
So the question is: do we think using US corporations and military is a better way to bring peace and stability to Iraq, or should we leave it to the Iraqis from here? The motivations of the Iraqis are to have a decent country. What are the motivations of the US?
We still don't know the answer to that.
Let's look at the recent history.
Why did we go into Iraq? What were the reasons given the American people by the Bush administration? Let's review:
1. Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/06/iraq.wmd.report/
NOPE
2. The terrorists who perpetrated 9/11 had links to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. In spite of the fact that some in the GOP still thinks there was a link, it was a fantasy.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/06/29/hayes.911/index.html
The 9/11 commission, appointed by Bush, presented its final report a year ago, saying that Osama bin Laden had been "willing to explore possibilities for cooperation with Iraq" at one time in the 1990s but that the al Qaeda leader "had in fact been sponsoring anti-Saddam Islamists in Iraqi Kurdistan, and sought to attract them into his Islamic army."
The 520-page report said investigators found no evidence that any "contacts ever developed into a collaborative operational relationship."
"Nor have we seen evidence indicating that Iraq cooperated with al Qaeda in developing or carrying out any attacks against the United States," it said.
- Next we were said to be in Iraq to liberate the Iraqi people. Anyone who followed the Bush administration's history would be right to question the sincerity of this reason. However, it is telling that Amnesty International did not take a stand on the invasion plans, recognizing that war causes much suffering, but that Hussein's regime was so brutal that it was likely to be a wash. Since then, the poor planning for the rebuilding of the Iraqi country belies this motive from the Bushies. Nope, that reason has not been very convincing, and the outcome so far has reflected the disingenuousness of the rationale.
- Next came the flypaper theory: If we have a presence in the Middle East, terrorists will enter Iraq to attack us there instead of attacking us in our home territory. -Kinda negates the humanitarian reason to depose Hussein, don't you think? Well, it is known that Iraq is now attracting terrorists from all over the world, so that part works. Will it keep them from attacking the US on our own soil? It did not stop terrorists from attacking Spain nor Britain. Meteor Blades spoke very eloquently about the failure of this strategy: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2003/11/20/65113/597
- The new argument: now that we are there, we need to stay and finish the job so that the area doesn't erupt into civil war, or into an incubator for new terrorists. Frankly, I think the world is the incubator, and as the saying goes, we are making enemies faster than we can kill them. We need to think hard about how to make friends. The corollary to the Flypaper theory is: If the US presence is attracting foreign terrorists, aren't we doing more harm than good by staying? If we leave, Iraq will no longer attract foreign terrorists. The Iraqis that will remain will want to make their country work...more than we do, even.
Assuming that most of the insurgents are Iraqis fighting to end the occupation of their country, wouldn't they stop fighting when we leave? Listen, Iraq has an educated population who are hiding out abroad or in their homes that can help rebuild their country and help to negotiate peace between different Iraqi factions and ethnic minorities. They have academics that have a hell of a lot more expertise and knowledge about the issues they face than do our experts in the US military. And they speak the language. It's not that I have a rosy view of what can happen if we leave, I just have a VERY dim view of how it's going now, and I think it will get worse.
So I can no longer think of a reason why we should be in Iraq. I think we need to pull out as soon as is reasonably possible. If they ask for help with border protection , or some other small matter of assistance, that is one way we can make friends. We need our troops to protect us from the many enemies we have made. We also need our think tanks to work on how to make more friends, NOW. That will make us and the world safer.