Iraq could be Obama’s Vietnam but it will never happen. The war
mongers, including the same Senator McCain we hear from everyday and many others,
pressured President Lyndon Johnson into escalating a war JFK started by supplying
military advisors to Vietnam to defeat the evils of communism. There mantra was
just a few more dollars, just a few more troops, just a few more bombings, and
we will win, which meant we would keep evil communist out of power. I quote
McCain, “We had it won”. The military was the prime drivers; they kept saying
we could win if “they had more and more tanks, planes, and guns”. Meanwhile, the
South Vietnam government officials had an interest in keeping the war going
because they were scooping up hands full of American money but refused to
cooperate in fighting communism. This is exactly where we are in today’s Afghanistan
and Iraq, which President Obama has already proven he understands by stop
listening to the warmongers and military advisor—remember, he fired Gen. McChrystal
in 2009 and replace him with Gen Petraeus after the failed escalation. Remember
the red line in Syria; the President chose peace over bombing. He will do the
same again; peace over killing.
In Iraq, he has to contend with a sectarian leader installed
by the ill-advised Bush administration, which for predictable religious reasons
became a Shiite dictator over Kurds and Sunnis; thus, creating an impossible situation.
The Bush advisors set up and election; therefore, believed they were installing
a democracy—remember the proud depiction of purple fingers on every TV station
is the US. It was a rigged election. It was the equivalent to the “mission
accomplished” speech from the deck of an aircraft carrier after a fake landing.
What could be a more “tough martial
message” than the landing of a fighter plane piloted by a “war time” President of
the United States against a background of a brass band and was all cheap theater?
Now, Obama has to put up with the mess they created in the Middle East.
My prediction is that Obama recognizes that there a situation
in Iraq where an acceptable long lasting solution is possible—it is not simple.
First, Obama knows the Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the failed president
of Iraq is a polarizing figure. He is an elected sectarian politician, who has
lost the confidence of the Kurdish and Sunni Iraqi people. No matter how many
guns, ships, and planes Obama send to him, he cannot heal the wounds Malaki has
caused unless he opens his government to all religious groups—religious
freedom. Remember Egypt. They elected a president, who did the same thing and
the military overthrew him—the people wanted democracy; it is what is sweeping
across the region that we call it the “Arab Spring”. That expression has a real
and special meaning to our President, who is skillfully maneuvering, by
diplomatic means, toward democracy for multiple countries at the same time—not
just one country but many countries. It is the wholesale shift in government
form in the entire Muslim world from Caliphates to democracies. He will pursue
the same course in Iraq, which is my prediction.
He will force—with persuasion and not bombs—Maliki to establish
religious freedom in Iraq, which Maliki will do because he is a politician without
an army, thus vulnerable to losing power. He will have to set aside his sectarianism.
Yes, religious freedom matters even in an Islamic state,
freedom must extend to all religions but especially warring minority sects.
This is not easy to accomplish even in the United States where a large segment
of our population wants Biblical law (See:
Freedom of Religion and the Iraq War. Firetreepub.blogspot.com). The fever
for American style democracy is strong in the Middle East among the people as
shown by the Arab Spring movements; however, there are groups of radical
Islamists one of which the current headline grabbing militants belonging; however,
the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
are only a small faction. They are not even the well know al Queda of 9/11 fame.
The estimates are that there are only about 7,000 ISIS but they are executing
ex-soldiers and poliltians, robbing banks, imposing unwanted Islamic laws as exemplified
by declaring that there is no longer religious freedom as if there was
religious freedom under al-Maliki.
Remember Obama clearly stated that he would not help the
Iraqi people unless they help themselves, which is exactly what the South Vietnamese
did not want to do. Obama is a student of history. He knows and understands what
the Vietnam trap that Lyndon Johnson fell into and he is not going there. He
hears McCain and Lindsey Graham crying to bomb somebody. Apparently, they want
to fall into the same old trap. He knows the American people are tired of war. He
hears all of his critics calling him feckless and a coward and crying for him
to do something—of course they never say what they want him to do—the only
thing they know is American muscle. Obama
is a real man; he does not need an AK47 to show he is tough nor does he have
to fake-land a plane on a deck of an aircraft carrier or wear a flight suit to
prove it.
The same thing will happen in Iraq that happened in the
Ukraine; the problem will just fade out of the news; he will solve the problem
to the benefit of “all the people” without war and without fanfare. No great and
glorious declaration of “mission accomplished” will fill the airwaves. He is
not forcing countries around the world to respect us out of fear as Reagan and
George W. did. Without question, Obama
is a man of peace and the greatest president we have ever had, which is why
Republicans hate him. He is making their drum beating, martial music, un-ending
drain on our economy by the Pentagon, and a call for the “dogs of war” look as
foolish as they really are. Still, the GOP hate machine grinds on and on.
URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated
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