Fareed Zakaria has written an op-ed piece explaining why he thinks Iraq is still worth fighting for.
So why have I not given up hope? Partly it’s because I have been to Iraq, met the people who are engaged in the struggle to build their country and cannot bring myself to abandon them. Iraq has no Nelson Mandelas, but many of its leaders have shown remarkable patience, courage and statesmanship. Consider the wisdom and authority of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, or the fair-minded and effective role of the Kurds, or the persistent pleas for secularism and tolerance from men such as Ayad Allawi. You see lots of rough politics and jockeying for power in Baghdad. But when the stakes get high, when the violence escalates, when facing the abyss, you also see glimpses of leadership.
I wish every idiot with a pen would visit Iraq before they wrote their op-ed piece on why we should run away quickly with our tail between our legs. Sadly though, most of today’s mainstream media outlets aren’t looking for op eds that use logic as their basis. Now please read the most important sentence of Mr. Zakaria’s editorial:
These sectarian power struggles can get extremely messy, and violent parties have taken advantage of every crack and cleavage. But this may be inevitable in a country coming to terms with very real divisions and disagreements. Iraq may be stumbling toward nation-building by consent, not brutality. And that is a model for the Middle East.
In the performance of my official duties, I have to read messages of blind hatred that come from members of the American public who, without the nanny culture they have come to rely on would be food for jackals. Sometimes these messages wishing for my death and supporting IEDs and more insurgency come in to my personal e-mail as well. To all you morons who think we are just over here randomly killing every Iraqi we see for fun, I will pay for your plane ticket to Baghdad International Airport. From there, you can wander anywhere you want and join the insurgents if you think they have so much to offer.
I’m tired of those of you who are protected by people like me whining the whole time I’ve over here risking my life to keep you fat, dumb and happy perpetually bitching about everything. If it weren’t for my fellow troops and I the same kind of wolves who are gnawing on the fabric of the nation of Iraq would be scratching on your door and killing your kids on their way to school. If you keep on undermining everything good that better people than you are trying to do over here it won’t be long before suicidal maniacs bent on mass destruction show up in New York again. Or maybe they’ll target Los Angeles or Washington, D.C. next.