June 30th 2009
Leaving Iraq
W
iser minds always said that publishing a timetable for leaving Iraq would lead to an upsurge in violence. But what do wiser minds know? We’re just a bunch of warmongers, right? Wrong.
Today, four U.S. soldiers were killed in combat related to the withdrawal, apparently in some sort of firefight, although news is still sketchy at this time; we only know they died of “combat-related injuries.” Their deaths are part of a rising tide of violence leading up to the much planned-for and publicized turning over of control of several Iraqi cities to Iraqi control: 250 people killed in all during June.
The American media has been mum on the surging levels of violence that have accompanied the withdrawal timeline, even though it’s following exactly the course those critical of Obama’s position on Iraq predicted. Where are the charges of “Blood on Obama’s Hands!” Where are the follow-up heart-wrenching personal interest stories on the families torn apart by the violence? Nowhere. Such stories would require fair and factual reporting.
In AP’s report, linked above, there was one quote I loved reading. It was a bit buried, so let me raise it up a bit:
President Jalal Talabani said the day could not have happened without the help of the United States, which invaded Iraq in 2003 and ousted Saddam — who was later convicted by an Iraqi court and executed in December 2006.
“While we celebrate this day, we express our thanks and gratitude to our friends in the coalition forces who faced risks and responsibilities and sustained casualties and damage while helping Iraq to get rid from the ugliest dictatorship and during the joint effort to impose security and stability,” Talabani said.
Quotes like that are, I hope, played loud and long throughout the repressed nations of the Muslim world, so they strike fear into the hearts of the likes of Ahmadinejad and al-Assad.
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