A leaky ship

A smart man once said, "Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it." Oh Chomsky, why don't more people listen to you? Unfortunately, people usually only listen to good advice once the time has passed to take it.
It appears that the US is the poster child for not only avoiding good advice but doing the exact opposite. Again, while our media (as I perused CNN's website) seems more interested in cool youtube videos and retracing Chandra Levy's steps, mad mayhem is ensuing due to a Wikileaks report on the Iraqi war.
Over 400,000 previously classified war documents showcase evidence of war crimes. Amongst other things: The documents show that there were more than 109,000 violent deaths between 2004 and the end of 2009. Of those 66,081 civilians, 23,984 people classed as "enemy", 15,196 members of the Iraqi security forces, and 3,771 coalition troops. 15,000 unrecorded civilian deaths are also noted. The reports show that although US military claimed not to be keeping track of civilian deaths, the leaked papers prove that they did. They also unveil the previously unreported instances in which US forces killed civilians at checkpoints and during operations.
The Pentagon has obviously sent out a massive shit storm of attempted buffering to try and get out of this one unscathed while Iraq's prime minister, Nouri Maliki bashes Wikileaks for trying to sabotage him as he deals with difficult election matters post March elections.
Meanwhile, many of his constituents applaud the leaking of official war documents saying that the people have a right to this information under a democracy.
Simultaneously, we, the heroic bearers of democracy shy away from any responsibility claiming that when the reports make mention of the abuse of Iraqis by Iraqis, the duty of American soldiers was to "observe and report" what they had seen to their superiors, who in turn would then pass the evidence on to the Iraqi authorities.
Ummmmm...wait...didn't we invade the country because Iraqis were abusing Iraqis? Didn't we claim to march in there all high and mighty because Saddam was a bad man hurting his people? Or did I just fall asleep when Bush admitted he had no fucking reason for killing what has now become nearly 5,000 US soldiers?
So, in short, we cause the splintering of an already strained nation, rape their natural and historical resources under the guise of freedom and democracy, disband their military, build it up again to our own liking and then walk away from any responsibility regarding their actions while simultaneously scolding the evil-doers who dabble in terrorism, torture and violence?
Yep, sounds like us.
I personally applaud Wikileaks for this. It may sound naive, but as a republic, if our government (or any corporate official acting in its stead) doesn't want the people to know of their actions, they shouldn't be doing them. We have every right to know, and since we were so eager to impose our way of life on Iraqis, they have every right to know as well.

Our guns, their people

The U.S. has officially handed over control of combat operations in Iraq. General Raymond Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq attended the ceremony to watch the final American combat team, the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division, transfer power over to the 6th Iraqi Army Division.
The number of US troops is said to drop from 64,000 to 50,000 by September 1st. This wonderful news comes amid a terrible cluster fuck of a time in Iraq. Between us just plumb losing billions of dollars to continued violence and crime, we're not exactly handing over a sterling example of democracy's finest fruits. It's more of a fumbling hot potato we're tossing over and saying, "uhhh, here - we couldn't figure this one out. sorry bout the invasion. bye!"
Don't get me wrong. I think we should get the fuck out of there asap. However, I think we also need to call it what it is. Mission is not accomplished. War is not won. Democracy is not spread like a phoenix rising. We need to get the hell out of there and then work on diplomatic solutions to bandage our blunders. The longer we stay, the more we earn the reputation of being a bully and general pain in the ass. Odierno said that he felt the US had come a long way, accomplished a lot and reminded us all that we're there to improve the lives of John and Jane Iraq. Awwww, how sweet.
Gosh golly, that makes me feel a whole lot better!
No. Something smacks of bygone days with this. Who else did we give weapons to and train and then...oh...right.
Would it be so far out of line to ask the Iraqi army that we fucking disbanded (big fuck up there) to take it from here...I mean it kinda is their country. And what if, what if we just admitted that we had fucked up and try to open up the doors of diplomacy instead of having dumbass ceremonies to show how awesome we are for handing over a country that isn't even ours back to those who really own it.
And to read between the lines of all the pomp and circumstance, they may have their "combat operations" back, but what does that really mean in the grand scale of a country? Oh, right. Jack squat. It just means that they get to look all nice and pretty holding a giant gun while we sit in the Green Zone passing Dinars back and forth, soaking our feet in oil and eating McDonalds.
There are a lot of burned bridges, and we shouldn't be just passing guns down the assembly line. The fact still remains that we are in control of that country, and we haven't handed over anything but a nice ceremony and handshake. And the fact still remains that training people in the art of blowing peoples heads off is not diplomacy, it's playing with fire, literally.