This morning I was reading the news online (like I do most days) and I clicked on the article about a US air raid in Iraq killing 32 people with suspected terrorist connections in the northern Shiite slum Sadr City.  I'm not really sure why I even read this article, since just about everyday there is at least one new article about deaths in Iraq.  Then I started looking at the pictures (which I posted some of below).  Now I don't want this to be a "political" post as much as I want it to be a post about humanity and ideals, meaning that I don't want to take sides, which is what seems to happen when we talk about Iraq. 

In a class that I am taking someone recently commented (and an offhand comment at that) that the Iraq would have been better off if we had just left Saddam in power, that Saddam was keeping things in check at least.  Someone else in the class chimed in "yeah, that works, unless you're a Kurd."  This is true, Saddam did some awful things and killed many people.   

But then I look at these pictures and what a god-forsaken mess it seems to be there, and I can't help but think that in some way the US (myself included) has had something to do with that.  Is this just a case of lesser of two evils?  Maybe.  Don't get me wrong, I know that this is a highly complex issue, going back to post-WW2 when many of the political boundaries in the Middle East were formed. 

But I also wonder if we take for granted that the situation in Iraq seems like a "lesser of two evils" sort of situation.  What I mean by that is I wonder if we don't in some ways cut (ideological) corners knowing that whatever gets set up in Iraq can't been much worse than the horrific dictatorship of Saddam.  For example, in the raid that took place in Sadr City yesterday 32 people were killed.  Sadr City is a Shiite militia stronghold, and most likely many of the people killed in the raid had strong ties to Shiite terror networks (although the Iraqi police said that at least nine of the victims were civilians). 

But here's what I mean by cutting (ideological) corners.  One of the main premises of the American system is that one is innocent until proven guilty.  I realize that war necessitates a different set of rules, but I think when we have to begin to sacrifice something that is so central to American ideals in order to fight a war, we must question what we are fighting for... if we must concede our American ideals in order to win a war, what is left of us when the war is over (even if we do win)?  We have sacrificed the very ideals that we are fighting for.  And it's not just that people are guilty until proven innocent, to conduct this type of war we are almost required to enter and search homes and business at will (not to mention the fact that the right to bear arms would seem ridiculous, though that is a whole other discussion).  The irony is that the reason these have become American ideals is because these were ‘rights' that were withheld from us when we were struggling for our independence from the major empire of the time.

My point is not that we should pull out of Iraq, or that we should increase the number of troops that we have in Iraq, but rather that this situation (like life) is full of some serious catch 22's.  I don't know what the answer to this is... and seemingly our government officials don't know either (or at least can't agree).  But I will say that I believe ideals to be the key element here.  Ideals seems like small theoretical things (and they are), but eventually they build up and once built up they are hard to contend with.  Ideals are part of why Islamist extremists are willing to die for their cause and ideals (and maybe money too) are part of the reason why so many colonists where willing to fight against the British. 

Being so far removed from the situation it is hard for me understand the role these ideals play in this fight... that is why I was moved to write this when I saw these pictures from the aftermath of the raid on Sadr City.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The dead is this boy's brother

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the son of the dead