The Middle is Always Evil

The war in Iraq– the unfortunate war, as I like to call it, has been going on for 5 years. It is now necessary to ask: Why are we there? What is the duty of the United States’ military in Iraq?

Months ago, when leaders of the 25th Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team returned home from Iraq, they did so seeking advice. But not military advice. Not advice on how to gain the respect of their troops; not advice on how to better prepare their men for the horrors of combat. No, they wanted the counsel of the mayor of Honolulu, Mufi Hannemann, on how to manage a large municipality. Why would US military officers, whose only charge is to defeat an enemy and protect American lives, need advice on how to run a municipality?

Because the brigade, according to Lt. Col. J.B. Vowell, the deputy commander, will be helping the Iraqi government build new infrastructure for the Iraqi people. Bridges, electricity, sewage centers, water pumps, all free labor for Iraq, courtesy of the US military.

The men and women fighting in Iraq have their hands tied, unable to respond with force if attacked by a civilian. If a man throws a molotov cocktail at US troops, they are not allowed to engage their enemy. Why? Why are we doing this? Because our government’s policy towards Iraq has been consistently altruistic.

As George Bush said in his 2003 State of the Union address, “We exercise power without conquest, and we sacrifice for the liberty of strangers.” In other words, we are not masters, we are slaves. George Bush’s foreign policy calls on young Americans to spill their blood, not for the sake of American security, but for the security of those who hate us, who would see us dead.

If we’re going to be in a war in the Mideast, we need to be fighting our enemy, not building their sewers; no responsibility to the enemy or to the Iraqi people. Our government has no place spending billions of American taxpayers dollars to a largely anti-western people who hate us. This needs to end. America needs to take its gloves off.

Fight the war. Crush the enemy. Leave.