A Pernicious Government

One of the most horrible things about the current state of Iraq is not that the country is in chaos or that its cities and society have become flotsam. While there are many problems, I am very optimistic that things, slowly and surely, are turning the right way -- economically, socially, and in regards to peace in the streets.

This is not so much the case with the Iraqi body politic, and there are still lingering problems in Iraqi society at large. Those in society at large are indisputably the result of the rottenness of vitriolic Islam, especially spread by fear. In the government, it is a result of the same, even more lethally combined with corruption and self-preservation at all costs.

The reticence and nescience of this government are often used as a rationale and justification for our withdrawl from Iraq -- an argument that makes no sense at all if we want to preserve any kind of international position of strength, or if we want to prevent the nation of Iraq from sinking to a blood bath, only to be rescued and brought to order by the most radical, violent, and anti-Western factions of Shi'aism. But it cannot either be denied that it seems absurd to continue to sacrifice our money and lives for a government that is so brutish, selfish, truculent, and apathetic to our situation and the situation of it's people.

Two major incidents this week bring this home to me: the audacity of the Iraqi government in response to the Blackwater "shooting," and the absurdity of Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi president, in his demands for the release of an Iranian commando and spy.

Certainly, there are reasons to investigate the Blackwater incident, but it seems that perhaps if the Iraq government -- instead of simply rewriting intellectual property rights and taking vacations -- focused the same energy on stamping out the bloodthirsty insurgents that they spend trying to stamp out Americans who are attacked on that street every day, then this issue would never have arisen in the first place. In spite of the mercenary actions, and ocassionally behavior, of the Blackwater troops, I am far more inclined to suspect that they were actually fighting a vicious enemy, rather than blasting away at passers-by for fun. And it would not surprise me if Iraqis and their government are perfectly prepared to lie through their teeth about the incident.

The question of the Iranian commando is even more ridiculous. Jalal Talabani demanded the immediate release of an Iranian agent, responsible for the delivery of arms, explosives, and training to Iraqi rebels, calling him -- amazingly -- "our civilian guest." And this was a commando -- a member of the insidious and violent "Qods Force" -- who was apparently captured while training Iraqis to murder their own countrymen and Americans.

So what to do about this tough situation? It seems pulling out isn't the right thing to do, but staying in and bleeding little-by-little seems cheap. The Iraqis are showing themselves not worth the blood we spend, and it almost begins to look attractive to leave them to their deaths. But we have been light-handed, erring on the side of the greatest economy of force from the beginning, and time and time again it has cost us. Making ourselves "backup" for the Iraqis doesn't work. It doesn't make sense to say "well, you're problem now" when they cannot begin to address their own degraded and depraved practice governance.

We need to step in without gloves, and take back control. We need to cause some serious trouble in Iraq, and make sure that they understand we will arrest whomever we please, and if we are attacked, we will definitely be shooting back. This sounds brutish to Western ears, but it is neither immoral, unwise, or unjust in this situation, and it is the only thing this society would understand clearly. And if properly combined with a continued flow of aid, reconstruction, etc., would hopefully cause progress to leap forward.