While driving home and flipping through the radio station I heard a program that was dicussing the recent decisions by congress aimed at getting our troops home. I was amazed by the announcer and the callers. The announcer claimed that if we stop the war we will eventually be fighting “them” on our soil. Others called in and said that if we left, other more powerful regimes would move in a take control of the region. Yet others claimed that we cannot and should not stop the war against Al Qaeda. I was mortified at the lack or willingness to think carefully about the reality of the situation. I won’t debate about how we got into the war, because, quite honestly, that is water under the bridge. But, to pretend that we are there to “fight Al Qaeda” or prevent terrorist attacks through preemption is silly.

Iraq was under the control of a despotic regime. Nobody argues with that. What many miss is that because of this absolute rule Sadam was able to “unite” (read: suppress) all of the other groups and cultures within Iraq. There are Kurds with unique nationalistic views and there are Shiite and Sunni Muslims. And don’t think because I grouped the two together that they are similar. They diverge in the level of secularization, political outlook and, of course, the usual cultural differences. Even though they may have gotten along more peacefully in times past the recent history of abuses has led to a situation in which it is difficult for anyone to get along.

There is now a vacuum in the region. Groups are attempting to gain control of what they think is their’s or what they are entitled to. Can we really blame them? We removed a totalitarian regime, but we failed to consider what this would do in a region with several different groups of people. So now, we pretend that Iraq is just a big plot of land with a bunch of “islamo-fascists” that need to be taken out before they take us out. Let’s be real. Many (most?) are laying claim to what they think is rightfully theirs whether through political process or by force.

Instead of fighting the battles of all these groups perhaps we should figure out how to undo what we (in the past few years) and the Brits (after WWI) have done and make it right? This talk about fighting Al-Qaeda, preventing terrorists from attacking us here and other rhetoric is getting old. Haven’t we screwed up enough nations? Haven’t we learned from history and in particular British colonialism? Haven’t we learned that we get it wrong more often than not (Just take a look at the decisions of the League of Nations)?

I shouldn’t have to say this, but this isn’t “anti-war” in the broad sense, because I believe there is a place for war. I have had relatives, as most people have, serve this country with honor and distinction. But, to continue this particular effort under these false pretenses I think dishonors their courage and sacrifice. There are dozens of cases where military action was required (read: we were morally obligated to act) and has stopped the abuse of people at the hands of those with power. There are consequences even for these good and noble causes. In the case of Iraq, I don’t think we considered what would happen when the people, all the people, were freed from the regime. They are now free from the regime and its atrocities, but instead of living life like they were minus Saddam, they want something different.