Compare and Contrast
Apr. 13th, 2003 06:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
demiurgentThe mob remains in Iraq. Some friends of mine feel that the U.S. military has no responsibility to protect museums, hospitals, churches, schools and the like -- the job isn’t done, they feel. Snipers are everywhere.
I don’t agree. I believe if you bring a military force into a city, destroy its police force and the state that controls things, you have a moral responsibility to assume control until such time as local authority can be established. It is the very heart of occupation. If there is good to be found in the toppling of Saddam Hussein -- and despite all of my opposition to this war, I acknowledge the good that can be found there -- it must be allowed to grow, not be crushed by the strong killing the weak and those caught in the panic and chaos of the moment destroying the cultural core of one of the oldest human civilizations on Earth. That must be part of the mission, if there is any morality to be found in the mission.
And yet, in the core of the violence of the mob, unchecked by occupying forces, are opportunities for heroism, of morality, of good to be found in Iraqis who have been oppressed for so long. This is the story of one group of Muslims who defended their neighbors even if it meant their own lives.
Even though those neighbors were Jews.
I am neither Jew nor Muslim, but I know something of Religion. I know that Judaism, Christianity and Islam all grow from a common root -- in mythology the children of Abraham. May the God of Abraham bless these children of Islam who place themselves in harm’s way for the Jews of Iraq. And may the Americans who occupy Baghdad learn from a few unarmed men who stand for order in the wake of chaos.
I don’t agree. I believe if you bring a military force into a city, destroy its police force and the state that controls things, you have a moral responsibility to assume control until such time as local authority can be established. It is the very heart of occupation. If there is good to be found in the toppling of Saddam Hussein -- and despite all of my opposition to this war, I acknowledge the good that can be found there -- it must be allowed to grow, not be crushed by the strong killing the weak and those caught in the panic and chaos of the moment destroying the cultural core of one of the oldest human civilizations on Earth. That must be part of the mission, if there is any morality to be found in the mission.
And yet, in the core of the violence of the mob, unchecked by occupying forces, are opportunities for heroism, of morality, of good to be found in Iraqis who have been oppressed for so long. This is the story of one group of Muslims who defended their neighbors even if it meant their own lives.
Even though those neighbors were Jews.
I am neither Jew nor Muslim, but I know something of Religion. I know that Judaism, Christianity and Islam all grow from a common root -- in mythology the children of Abraham. May the God of Abraham bless these children of Islam who place themselves in harm’s way for the Jews of Iraq. And may the Americans who occupy Baghdad learn from a few unarmed men who stand for order in the wake of chaos.
Re: Will Timmins
Date: 2003-04-14 03:18 am (UTC)Re: 'groups of friends'... Fair enough! :) Then change that to a clarification of what we were talking about. People saying the military has _no_ responsibility... well, I think that's silly.
I'm not convinced that one could have 'enough' people to immediately take control of the city, but I definitely see your point. Personally, I think the true test is where we are in the next few days. If things get under control, I will regard it as a proper victory. If not... then I'll fully agree that the military/administration screwed up.
I'm not absolutely sure that the number of people needed for the mission was clear or completely predictable. I'm not sure it follows that if the military requested more men, that that means they knew they'd _need_ more men.
Ultimately, though, it'll be moot... whether or not it's fair, I don't care. It will either prove to have worked, or it won't. And they'll hang by it.
Re: Will Timmins
Date: 2003-04-14 07:09 am (UTC)My thesis, refined after a couple of days of (very good, in most cases) rebuttal and debate on the issue, is that the military would be in a far better position in regards to their objectives and in the maintenance of law and order in Baghdad had they better manned the mission. As with all Armchair Generalship, I may be wrong but I'm certain.
(Would that have saved the Museum, the Hospitals, et al? Who can say what might have been. But I believe the incidence of rioting and looting would have been much lower had that happened.)
According to BBC World Service, the restoration of Law and Order is a top priority of the military at the moment. Whether something dramatically changed over the weekend or if it always has been but they've been spread too thin I do not know.
None of this, by the by, changes the essential heroism of a few unarmed Muslims who bluffed a mob away from a Jewish neighborhood. Would that lesson were repeated throughout the world, often.