{"id":72,"date":"2004-05-25T22:09:50","date_gmt":"2004-05-25T22:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.georgethomasclark.com\/?p=72"},"modified":"2010-06-06T09:58:32","modified_gmt":"2010-06-06T09:58:32","slug":"surgery-on-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/surgery-on-iraq\/","title":{"rendered":"Surgery on Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s cut the bullshit \u2013 the stuff that so often comes from the mouths of leaders everywhere \u2013 and deal with some facts:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Bush administration repeatedly lied about the capabilities and intentions of Iraq to do harm to the United States.<\/li>\n
  2. The Bush administration was internationally condemned for even contemplating an attack on a sovereign nation that, clearly, was not threatening the United States.<\/li>\n
  3. The Bush administration arrogantly ignored the rest of the world and attacked Iraq anyway.<\/li>\n
  4. The Bush administration was justifiably proud of removing cutthroat Saddam from power but manifestly unprepared to prevent eruptions of violence and looting.<\/li>\n
  5. The Bush administration was quick to disband or otherwise emasculate the Iraqi army and security forces, many of whom could have helped to establish and maintain civil order.<\/li>\n
  6. The Bush administration, somewhere near the top, ordered U.S. troops to torture and humiliate Iraqi prisoners of war.<\/li>\n
  7. The Bush administration is responsible for the deaths and maiming of thousands of Iraqi civilians and American soldiers.<\/li>\n
  8. The Bush administration is like the doctor who insisted on performing unnecessary surgery and now has his head stuck in the open and bloody chest cavity of a critical patient.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    It must at this point be emphasized that most, if not all, of the world\u2019s nations will become democratic within twenty years.\u00a0 So one should ignore those who pat their fannies in self-congratulation as they proclaim \u201chow wonderful Iraq will someday be\u201d as a result of this war.\u00a0 Iraq, indeed, will be better, but not because it was attacked.\u00a0 Life in Iraq and other totalitarian countries will improve because their governments\u2019 vicious and incompetent leaders can no longer suppress the knowledge that freedom is inexorably spreading.<\/p>\n

    In the meantime, how can this patient be saved?\u00a0 How can the doctor avoid malpractice of appalling dimensions? \u00a0The answer, in principle, is straightforward.\u00a0 The doctor must stop using his scalpel as an axe and start working in the manner of a skilled and compassionate physician whose primary concern is the well-being of the patient.\u00a0 No, that\u2019s not a na\u00efve call for the United States to become soft and defenseless.\u00a0 American conservatives are the only people among the world\u2019s six billion who see the U.S. that way.\u00a0 In fact, the superpower has been pounding Iraq for thirteen years, first crushing it in the Gulf War, then strangling it with an economic boycott that caused scores of thousands of civilians to die from malnutrition and disease, all the while bombing a defeated nation that couldn\u2019t fight back.\u00a0 Indeed, the Bush administration was very confident that Iraqi defense forces would collapse soon after the invasion in 2003.\u00a0 It was relatively easy to slice the patient open.\u00a0 Oh, but the bleeding, and the arrogance to presume that recovery would be as trouble-free as the operation.<\/p>\n

    Now it\u2019s time for the only step that can stop the bloodshed: give the Iraqi people real political freedom on June thirtieth.\u00a0 Give them their liberty, and with that must come the right to struggle and fail and try again.\u00a0 When the Iraqi people start believing they really are free, the relatively few who crave a medieval existence will begin to lose support and either be turned in, killed in combat, or decide to put down their arms.<\/p>\n

    The doctor can monitor this process for perhaps another year or two, but he must also make plans to leave the patient\u2019s home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Let\u2019s cut the bullshit \u2013 the stuff that so often comes from the mouths of leaders everywhere \u2013 and deal with some facts: The Bush administration repeatedly lied about the capabilities and intentions of Iraq to do harm to the United States. The Bush administration was internationally condemned for even contemplating an attack on a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,3,4],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nSurgery on Iraq - George Thomas Clark<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/surgery-on-iraq\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Surgery on Iraq - George Thomas Clark\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Let\u2019s cut the bullshit \u2013 the stuff that so often comes from the mouths of leaders everywhere \u2013 and deal with some facts: The Bush administration repeatedly lied about the capabilities and intentions of Iraq to do harm to the United States. 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