Adam Brodsky: Iraq's a mess, but so what?
'MANY Americans," President Bush said Wednesday, voted "to register their displeasure with the lack of progress" in Iraq. So did he - by dumping Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
But what exactly are people upset about? Is the situation in Iraq really so grim?
Certainly, the realities of Iraq don't justify the enormous resentment that some insist is the explanation for Tuesday's results.
Yes, Iraq is a mess. Sectarian violence has spiraled. Iraqi forces seem not only unprepared but unreliable - raising the question of whether they'll ever be ready to take over security. The political situation seems headed nowhere. Development of infrastructure is wholly inadequate. And America's exit seems nowhere in sight. (How did "exit" become the chief goal, anyway?)
Yet other parts of the world - say, Sudan - are as bad off as Iraq, or worse.
So maybe the rule is: Do nothing, and you're held harmless; intervene and fail to make things perfect, and you're out.
But where's the evidence that Americans are worse off, in any tangible way, because of Iraq?
Yes, families suffer enormously when a relative is killed or injured there. That's tragic. But the 3,000 U.S. military deaths over the past 31/2 years amounts to less than three ten-thousandths of a percent of the U.S. population per year. That many Americans die from drunk driving every 20 days.
Iraq is not World War II; in terms of casualties, it's not even Vietnam.
Yes, the war is costing tens, even hundreds, of billions of dollars. But America's gross domestic product is $13 trillion a year.
The fact is, any serious effort to confront terror will be costly.
The terrorists happen to be in the Middle East, particularly Iraq. We either fight them there - for 50 years, if need be - or we don't. And the chips will fall where they may.
The loss of Iraqi life? Well, sure, that's tragic, too. But if "sectarian violence" means anti-American Shiites killing anti-American Sunnis, and vice versa, how much sleep should Americans lose over Bush's "failure" to stop it?
That may sound cold, but the killers are free to end their violence whenever they like.
Really, the only thing Americans should worry about regarding Iraq is quitting prematurely and emboldening terrorists. That aside, the economy and other issues affect us far more....
Read entire article at New York Post
But what exactly are people upset about? Is the situation in Iraq really so grim?
Certainly, the realities of Iraq don't justify the enormous resentment that some insist is the explanation for Tuesday's results.
Yes, Iraq is a mess. Sectarian violence has spiraled. Iraqi forces seem not only unprepared but unreliable - raising the question of whether they'll ever be ready to take over security. The political situation seems headed nowhere. Development of infrastructure is wholly inadequate. And America's exit seems nowhere in sight. (How did "exit" become the chief goal, anyway?)
Yet other parts of the world - say, Sudan - are as bad off as Iraq, or worse.
So maybe the rule is: Do nothing, and you're held harmless; intervene and fail to make things perfect, and you're out.
But where's the evidence that Americans are worse off, in any tangible way, because of Iraq?
Yes, families suffer enormously when a relative is killed or injured there. That's tragic. But the 3,000 U.S. military deaths over the past 31/2 years amounts to less than three ten-thousandths of a percent of the U.S. population per year. That many Americans die from drunk driving every 20 days.
Iraq is not World War II; in terms of casualties, it's not even Vietnam.
Yes, the war is costing tens, even hundreds, of billions of dollars. But America's gross domestic product is $13 trillion a year.
The fact is, any serious effort to confront terror will be costly.
The terrorists happen to be in the Middle East, particularly Iraq. We either fight them there - for 50 years, if need be - or we don't. And the chips will fall where they may.
The loss of Iraqi life? Well, sure, that's tragic, too. But if "sectarian violence" means anti-American Shiites killing anti-American Sunnis, and vice versa, how much sleep should Americans lose over Bush's "failure" to stop it?
That may sound cold, but the killers are free to end their violence whenever they like.
Really, the only thing Americans should worry about regarding Iraq is quitting prematurely and emboldening terrorists. That aside, the economy and other issues affect us far more....