Sunni fighters allied with elements of Al Qaeda have seized control of Fallujah from the Shia-led central government of Iraq.
There will be those who will spin this as an American failure. Folks, it ain't the fault of the Americans, nor is it to the discredit of those American servicemen and women who took the city from these same groups six or so years ago.
The discredit falls on the Iraqi government. The Americans were able to co-opt the Sunnis now fighting against the Baghdad government by including them in their efforts. Unfortunately, the Maliki government has abandoned that approach. From a human perspective, its decision is understandable, but it just creates another tragedy.
However, this tragedy is not the fault of President Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, American neo-conservatives, the Republicans, the Democrats or any other person or group in the United States. It is the fault of the Iraqis themselves, and they bear sole responsibility for it.
Don't try to spin the fact that it is the fault of the US because it and 40-some-odd other nations invaded in a vain attempt to enforce UN sanctions and Security Council resolutions. One only has to look at Syria next door to see what eventually would have happened to Iraq. The Americans just brought the Arab Spring to Iraq a little earlier than it came to other countries in the Middle East (and that is not to say that the Americans are to take credit for the Arab Spring, it was an Arab thing).
The point is that in Iraq, as well as across the Middle East (in fact the entire world), the old adage that the enemy of my enemy is my ally (for now). Yes, it makes for strange bedfellows but it is the real world. In battles, political or actual combat, allies are always welcome (as long as they stay allies until the battle is fought and is over). Unfortunately, the Maliki government has failed to prove to minority groups in Iraq that it can be inclusive. So, those minority groups, however they may dislike each other, form alliances of convenience, much like minority governments in parliamentary states cobble together coalitions to rule.
It is a tragedy ... particularly for those people who don't want to pick sides and just want to live their lives without clashing with the tax collector and other representatives of the government, for that is the way most of us are. Let us live in freedom from oppression. Let us live according to the dictates of our own conscience. Unfortunately, as we are seeing as a growing trend in the United States, that paradigm is under assault.
The trend increasingly is to enforce one societal view upon all the others who fall under the purview of the current party or political faction in power. Unfortunately, as being witnessed in Iraq, Southeast Asia, Central Africa and to a lesser extent in the United States, it leads to strife and conflict which, if left unchecked, will lead to violence.
You may not want that; I may not want that, but unfortunately the time will come when if you want to live free to follow the dictates of your own conscience, then you will be compelled to choose sides. (Or vote with your feet, which may or may not be a successful option to maintain your liberty.)
I know this may seem to be a dark assessment of the future of the world, but we have to face reality. We can visualize world peace, but without a common point of reference then trying to peacefully reconcile all the competing points of view of the world will not be able to happen. You may want it, but it isn't going to happen. People, unfortunately, just are not made that way.
Remember: If you want peace, prepare for war
This expression originally comes from the Romans (from "Epitoma Rei Militaris," by Vegetius (Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus)).
In Latin the phrase is: "Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum." It also has been cited as: "Si vis pacem, para bellum."
It is time to prepare for just that contingency.
It is time to prepare for just that contingency.
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