Sunday, June 11, 2006

Iraq Prime Minister wants US troops out

Iraq Prime Minister expressed his desire for US troops to move out within 18 months. President Bush is hesitant about this.

I've seen many polls asking questions about - Should the US troops stay in Iraq and fight or cut and run? What kind of a question is that? Let me rephrase the question for you - Should US troops do the fighting for Iraq or should Iraqis do the fighting for themselves?

I don't want another Vietnam to happen. What the Vietnamese wanted was the US to remain in the background, play an advisory role, and support them, and allow them to do the main fighting. Sure, perhaps they are not as good as Americans as fighters, and casualty will occur, but when they fight for their own country, they have a sense of pride within them. With Americans in the front, and often treat them as third rate citizens, they lost that sense of pride, along with development of resentment within them, which they are too afraid to speak out. It was a dysfunctional team.

I hope that does not happen in Iraq. Americans should think about moving into the background, and let the Iraqis do the fighting for themselves. Our presence there can irritate the insurgents and give them reasons to attack. Do not think of it as cut and run, think of it as changing tactics. Sure they can say a lot of things that anger us - don't let it. We can say we'll help them rebuild their country, but there need to be peace. They need to learn to make peace with their neigbors. Stay as neutral as you can.

With the death of Zarqawi, they might do many insane things. Rather than fight back at them, just show up the mirror, so they can see themselves. In the meantime, we should spend our energy doing positive and constructive things.

America might do a lot of bad things in the past, but it can change. Change is something America is very good at. It is a young nation, yet it surpassed just about every other nations. Now, it gets into a bit of trouble. Why? It might be because it thinks it is a powerful country, and it can do anything, and if not careful, it can abuse its power.

That is the challenge for America. Will it get stuck in its old ways of thinking, or it can change. Be the example. We can change.

When followers are told that Americans do all these bad things, and now they see us do all these positive things, they will start to have some doubt within themselves. Are their elders see things as they are or do they have some long grudge within them?

We can be the force for positive transformation.

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