About stupidissmart's comment:
Yes...I guess what I'm trying to bring forward is how we can at
least try and extend help to Iraqi civilians, and help 'em
build their lives back together, one step at a time, even if it
would take decades to do so. The question of whether the U.S and
coalition forces did the right thing, whether so-and-so must be
blamed for causing so-on-and-so-on...that has nothing to do
with our capabilities and our desire (if you do have
it) in helping Iraqis regain their lives back.
Yeah..one of the main problems is its bloody sectarian war.
Partly caused by historical grievances, worsened
further by the U.S-led invasion. Getting money and aid to them
would be one helluva job to accomplish, when the insurgents and
resistance groups are perceiving every foreign entity as a
threat.
I think changing their idealogies (radical or not) would
be difficult at this point...the Shi'ites, Sunnis, Kurdish
populations, al-Sadr's Mehdi "army," the radicals...they've
suffered too much with one another to be coerced any further. Maybe
they still can, god knows. I still hope that one day all these
people would learn how to co-exist with another despite all those
grievances. A fantasy, I know, but hopefully.
I don't know, possibly giving these different sects their own
states could be considered. Many people are debating
between a one-state vs two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.
Kurdistan is slowly emerging in northern Iraq. It should be
considered. Maybe they should just put down their damn weapons and
start negotiating. If not their own states, then in a unified Iraq,
they should ensure their own sect gets equal representation in the
IGC, and decide exactly how they are going to divide their oil
(let's not forget the Sunni-dominated areas in Iraq are
oil-poor).
I believe that if any of this is to be achieved, U.S forces
should pull out of Iraq. They mishandled the occupation.
Their time is over. Maybe not immediately, but gradually, and
without any conditions. Get a ringside seat and start
using other avenues other than military force to negotiate and
compromise. It's gonna be a long road, but who knows. The Iraqis
have experienced too much under the occupation to give a damn about
whatever goodwill the U.S forces are planning to do next.
Also, one of things that must be understood is that a
lot of the so-called "insurgents" in Iraq are just normal
Iraqis resisting the occupation. When the U.S invaded the country,
Al-Qaeda's presence was minimal at best. Till now, there hasn't
been solid proof that Saddam was affiliated with Al-Qaeda. That was
the U.S's way of selling the war.
Most Iraqis who had suffered under Saddam were no doubt happy
when he was deposed. They waited eagerly to see what the U.S would
do after that. But since the Bush admin mishandled everything soon
after Saddam was caught, it comes as no surprise that these normal
Iraqis too have taken up arms to defend themselves. If you recall,
the Fallujah siege in 2004 was the worst-case scenario. Lots of
innocent women, children and the elderly were killed when they
tried to flee the city. The coalition forces stormed the local
hospitals, killing people whom they thought were
"insurgents." The International Red Cross and medical aid were
denied entry into the city. And let's not get started on the
indiscriminate sniper fire.
These things...do you think even normal Iraqis won't
be mad over these unjust killings? So they take up arms, form
resistance groups, some of them get radicalised by al-Sadr's men,
some join opportunistic Al-Qaeda branches in the country, and there
you have it. "Insurgents" attacking coalition forces. Iraq's
problem now is not so much about Islamic fundamentalism...it's more
towards what others did that made them go towards that direction.
We have to find a way to reconcile what the Iraq War did to
them.