As the civil war in Iraq becomes even more dangerous, the Los Angeles Times today has published a story that tells us who the Iraqis hold accountable for this mess.
The headline says it all: Clerics lay blame for Iraq's strife on U.S. mistakes
In interviews Saturday and recent sermons, clerics articulated one message that appears to be gaining traction on both sides of Iraq's civil war: The U.S. presence is making matters worse, and the Americans should go home.
(emphasis mine)
This is unsurprising to most of us. And yet, the more this message gains traction in Iraq, the more perilous our security in Iraq and at home becomes. Join me on the other side for the discussion.
As we know, Iraq's national government is being rendered more ineffective by the second as the country spirals into a worsening civil war. In this environment, leadership comes not from its political leaders but its religious leaders - Shiite and Sunni clerics. These clerics don't seem to agree much on anything, but they are reaching consensus on one thing - America is the cause of their problems and they want America gone:
"The roots of our problems lie in the mistakes of the Americans committed right from the beginning of their occupation," said Sheikh Ali Mirza Asada, a Shiite cleric in Najaf who is a leader of Iraq's Dawa Party.
"Since the beginning, the U.S. occupation drove Iraq from bad to worse," said [Sunni cleric Sheikh Harith] Dhari, who recently was named a fugitive from justice by Iraq's Shiite-led government for allegedly supporting terrorism.
Stay the course is not an option, and never has been. But, as we debate whether to increase troop levels in Iraq, we do so at our own peril. We can bicker back and forth like academics about optimal troop levels, but this debate is extremely irrelevant to the Iraqis. They want us out - now. They want us out even more than most of us on Daily Kos do, because it's their home. Consider the Pottery Barn argument. This is not "You break it, you buy it." Rather, the Iraqis are telling us, "You broke it, but all we want you to do is leave the store before you break anything else."
Those are the short term implications. The long term implications, however, are far more grave. Someday, this civil war will play itself out. We can't be sure of what the result will be, but we can be sure of this: it won't end the anger. The Iraqis will remember the pain, and the loss. They will be looking for somebody to blame. Guess who they will blame for everything? If the clerics have a say in it, it will not be Saddam Hussein. It will be us.
This is what creates terrorism. While none of the 9/11 hijackers were Iraqi, that does not mean that Iraqis are incapable of hurting us. They are already killing our soldiers, and have the support of their country to do it. But someday, after the dust has settled and the Iraqis are looking for revenge, a few bad apples may try to come after us - on our own soil. Terrorism will not stop after we leave Iraq.
This is what Bush has given to us, and what he exacerbates every day that we remain in Iraq. A country that previously hated its dictator, may have very well transferred all of that hatred to us. We have likely awoken a sleeping giant. We have turned peaceful people into potential terrorists. And we are the target.
I hope I'm wrong, and I hope the Iraqis will understand that so many of us never meant to hurt them. I also hope that our leaders in Washington will get a clue and do the will of the people - the Iraqi people.