I've gotten over the worst of the shock I felt at Nick Berg's murder. Visions of mushroom clouds over Arabia no longer dance in my head. I found Bill Whittle's "Strength" to be very helpful toward instilling perspective. It's about a half-hour read, but quite theraputic and well worth the time.

The other thing I found helpful was this letter from Marine Major Dave Bellon that I found via Matty O'Blackfive. His first-hand account of what's REALLY going on in the Sandbox actually gives me hope. I especially like the part where he says the troops are just laughing at the media's reports of doom & gloom.

There's one tiny passage in that letter about one particular mass grave that makes me completely understand what this war is all about:

Each skull had a bullet hole in it except for a few that were smashed with a club or rifle butt. There were clearly men but also women and children. The grave never made the news as there were no media with us and it was small by Iraq standards.

A... small... mass grave. That phrase just twists my gut. It means that there are enough mass graves filled with wantonly slaughtered humanity in Iraq that you can make size comparisons among them.

I'm very glad that that part of Iraqi history is over. That alone makes the effort worth it.

No more mass graves, please. Of any size. That's what this is about.

There's another thought expressed in that letter that makes me understand why we can't leave Iraq prematurely. Like the Cold War that lasted 50 long, necessary years before a sick ideology crumbled under the weight of its own decay, this war will last... until it's done. We can't quit early. Why?

Are people so naive as to think that if we left, things would get better? The country would implode and thousands of people would be killed. When the dust settled, a more dangerous Iraq would emerge and we would be even more hated throughout the world.

That's right. Whatever happens in Iraq, until the end of time, will be the fault of the United States. If we leave now, the country will be consumed by civil war until one strongman emerges victorious to rule the ruins. And America will be blamed and branded as evil by the world. If we stay, hundreds of Iraqi civilians will die, either as unavoidable collateral damage or as deliberate targets of Islamists who don't care who they kill in their quest for political power. And America will be blamed and branded as evil by the world.

But if we stay, there is at least a hope of establishing some crude form of 21st century civilization in the Middle East. If we must be damned for something (and we will no matter what we do, as we always are), then at least let us be damned for doing the right thing.

Posted by: Harvey at 06:34 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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