Iraqi politicians deadline passed

 

By Fatih Abdulsala

 

Azzaman, July 12, 2007

 

There are some Iraqi politicians who see U.S. public opinion as naïve and there are others who believe that the U.S. mentality itself is superficial and credulous.

 

Those entertaining such ideas would have been right five years ago when a bunch of lies prompted the White House to move armies and spend recklessly on Iraq invasion.

 

Iraqi politicians naively thought that marching on the same path of lies would hold the U.S. administration a hostage to their shortsightedness.

 

Instead of using their own capabilities to run the country, they thought no matter what happens the world’s most powerful country would remain on their side and believe their lies.

 

Iraqi politicians believed they could extort the U.S. The extortion was mutual, they thought, because the U.S. would never give up Iraq.

 

Little did they know that the best strategies are those which adapt to the situation and that time would come when Iraq would turn into such a liability and burden that the U.S. itself would like to get rid of.

 

Iraqi politicians should have taken good lessons from recent history. The U.S. has always altered its strategy in a manner that benefits its national interests. It has always been ready to change tact despite huge sacrifices.

 

It is a cheap excuse to say the country will fall in the hands of ‘terrorists’ if the U.S. withdrew its forces. There are many in the U.S. now who no longer believe in this.

 

There are no foreign troops in neighboring countries to protect them from ‘terrorists’. The question is why Iraq needs a huge U.S. military force to protect it from ‘terrorism’ while other countries do not.

 

Some Iraqi politicians warn the country will be divided if U.S. troops withdraw. But Iraq was a unified state before the coming of the Americans. And who says that the Americans will give a damn if the country disintegrates?

 

Iraqi politicians must acknowledge that their insistence on the presence of foreign troops is for their own protection and has nothing to do with the safeguarding of Iraqi people’s interests.

 

The people of Iraq have seen one calamity after another since these politicians steamed into Iraq on the back of U.S. tanks. The nation is being tortured, forced to flee from one place to another, from one country to another and exposed to unprecedented suffering.

 

You have violated the nation’s sanctities and took revenge against its history. You have not built a single hospital for its wounded and not a single house for its internally displaced persons who are in millions.

 

Iraqi people’s patience is wearing thin. So is that of your protectors and sponsors – Bush and his troops. I think your time is over.