Scott's Random Thought For The Day (Anti-Iraqi)



Today was the day I realized beyond a shadow of doubt that our policies in Iraq are doomed to miserable failure. After the fighting in the city of Ramadi resulted in U.S. fatalities on Tuesday, our military released the following statement, as reported by Reuters and many others:

"Eleven Marines died while engaged with the anti-Iraqi forces for more than seven hours; one died from wounds suffered during the firefight."

Wait a minute -- "anti-Iraqi" forces? Who are we fighting here? The last time I checked, U.S. forces were fighting actual Iraqis, people who were born in Iraq, who now live in Iraq, and who are citizens of Iraq. They aren't against Iraq, they're against the U.S. occupation.

To call the Iraqis who are fighting the U.S. occupation "anti-Iraqis" makes it sound like our current administration is taking ideas from old DC comic books, and the people rebelling in Iraq right now are refugees from the Dark Matter universe sent to destroy us by the Anti-Monitor.

That's about all the humor I can muster about the situation. We are in Iraq, for right or wrong, and we need to do the right thing and set up a stable, democratic government. If we fail the consequences are grave for the region and for us. I fear that a government that would try to label Iraqis fighting us as "anti-Iraqi forces" is trying to ignore the realities we're facing.

A quick Google search reveals that our government has been using the term "anti-Iraqi forces" since April 5, 2004. Mark that day, that's when our policies in Iraq began to fail. I fervently hope that the current administration can figure something out before we turn sovereignty over to parties-as-yet-unnamed on June 30th.

Posted: Wed - April 7, 2004 at      

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