Some thoughts from an everyday American...

I guess I should start this blog with a relatively brief summary of my perspective on Iraq (in depth, individual topics can be covered later)

Let's start with Saddam:

Of course, I can only speak from the POV of an American on the outside looking in, and though I doubt I speak for all Americans, many would agree with me on this issue.

Americans do not understand the leader of a country killing the citizens of his country. In America, our leaders do not have that much power - in fact, all their power is given to them by the citizens, and it can be taken away by the same citizens - not by assassination or bloody battles, but in the voting booth, through impeachment, and various other ways of ousting a poor leader.

If any of our presidents had ever gone on killing sprees, murdering Americans who disagreed with them, or who wanted to oust them from power, said presidents would have been arrested, tried and convicted (and in certain states, executed).

So we do not understand how Saddam could claim to love Iraq, while killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. We do not understand the wholesale use of torture - beatings, imprisonments, rapes, theft of property - on Iraqis performed by Saddam, his crew, and even his sons.

Therefore, almost any American you talk to - if they are being honest - will admit they feel men like Saddam should be taken out. From there, we may disagree on what "taken out" means - some would say put in prison, some would say he should have to experience the same end he dealt to others.

There are 2 main points of view Americans have when it comes to invading another country:

1 - Thinks America should not get involved in any other country's business, unless it directly impacts us, and therefore, since Saddam wasn't a direct or immediate threat, we shouldn't have invaded, regardless of how many people he killed in Iraq or for what reasons he killed them.

2 - Believes we owe it to the world to give them the same freedoms we have - believes no man, woman or child should be subjected to brutality or torture by their government, and therefore, we owed it to Iraq to liberate them from Saddam's iron fist.

Now, for Americans who believe like I did, that Saddam should have been taken out - let's not forget the one thing that flourished under Saddam - a secular society, where Sunnis, Shia, Christians and even Jews were allowed to practice their religions, where people of all religions mixed in society, as friends, coworkers, and Iraqi citizens.

These same religious groups were very often united in their dislike for Saddam (except for those who got special favors) and his tactics, and they are united now in not wanting to be an occupied country.

Some Iraqis want America and the coalition out now - yesterday would not have been too soon.

Others want America and the coalition to stay long enough to rid Iraq of the Shiite militias and death squads (and the obese, uneducated, video-game-addicted clerics who run them), Al-Qaeda groups, Muslim extremists who would impose their way of life on Iraqis, and the Iranians who would like to turn Iraq into Iran, Jr.

I can honestly say that 100% of America - including President Bush - would like America and the coalition out now - yesterday would not have been too soon.

Yes, I said "including President Bush" - think about it... he surely does not want his legacy to be getting America into 2 wars. He wants to be able to wrap up these wars with positive results before he gets out of office, and that clock is ticking...

And again, America's citizens are split on this:

In one camp, we have the seemingly beatnik, hippy, peace activists, who whine and wail about all America does wrong (this would be going on even if we hadn't invaded Iraq), and who would have us leave Iraq in chaos, bring our troops home, and let Iraq fix itself (if it can manage to get the militias, death squads, extremists, terrorists and Iranians out).

These sorts are not Iraq's friends. It's not really about peace and love. They don't give a fig what happens to Iraq or her people, they just don't want their tax dollars spent on the war or reconstruction, don't want military spending, and don't want to be bothered with anyone but themselves or their own. Or they hate President Bush so much, they would be against anything he was for - in other words, if President Bush said America should cut and run, some of these folks would suddenly be calling for us to stay in Iraq.

In the other camp, we have some Americans who were for the war and some Americans who were against the war. What unites the people of this camp is their feeling of responsibility for the current situation in Iraq - and a feeling that we must leave Iraq stable, free of the militias, death squads, extremists, terrorists and Iranian influence. They believe we have a responsibility to rebuild what was destroyed in the war, and they also hope we can rebuild what we did not destroy, that was not kept maintained over the years before the invasion.

There are folks in the latter camp who would jump into the "cut and run and never look back" camp if it looks like the fighting will never end so the rebuilding can progress at a faster rate so our sons and daughters can come home.

Bottom line: No American wants to stay in Iraq forever.

The everyday Iraqi has endured a lot of hardship as a result of this war.

I have read stories of Iraqis who have lost loved ones, their homes, and everything they owned. I have read about unemployment and poverty. I have read about Iraqis who live in the middle of war zones, constant bombing, and chaos and destruction.

This was never the intention of America - this was not what we wanted. We apparently expected to go into Iraq, liberate her people, help them establish and rebuild, and go home. But we made some mistakes - some of them huge - in our estimation of what would need to be done to assure the Iraqi people of a peaceful transition from a dictator running Iraq, to the Iraqis running Iraq.

And to America's shame, yes, there have been soldiers and Marines who have done some horredous things - and Americans want to see these guys get prosecuted and punished. We have not raised our sons to commit the crimes some of our military have committed. In some cases, long prison sentences are justified - in other cases, as far as I'm concerned, the death penalty would be fitting (specifically, I'm talking about the soldiers who raped the teenage girl and then killed her and her family).

Then there are others in the military who are simply jerks, who don't necessarily commit a crime, but who are arseholes, and who need taken down a peg. Not killed, not put in prison, but definitely bitch-slapped a few times and their rank and pay reduced, or, in some cases, dishonorably discharged, because you don't have to commit a crime to act dishonorably.

But as someone who knows many military men and women, the reality is that the vast majority of them are good people. These are the guys who risk their lives building schools, bringing water and food and medicine to the Iraqi people, patrol the cities and risk sniper fire from Al Qaeda or the militias to keep the citizens safe, work with local governments to secure their cities from terror and extremism, carry children who have been hurt in suicide bombings to safety and see to it that they get medical care, rescue children from orphanages run by greedy, heartless people, train the Iraqi army and police to protect Iraq, etc.

The majority of American military men and women would protect Iraqis with their lives - and many of them have.

And the American people?

We want the fighting to be over. We want to see Iraq rebuilt. We want our children to come home. We want Iraq to thrive. And we wish the Iraqi people the same freedom and peace that we wish for ourselves.

Perhaps I'm optimistic, but I think all of the above can be accomplished.

However, I don't know if we can leave it up to our governments and politicians alone. Sure, they can do some things, but let's face it - there are those in our governments who put their own interests and career goals ahead of the interests of their people.

When all is said and done, I think the citizens of these two countries are the key.