Middle East occupation is wrong
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Editor,
I weep for our military in Iraq. The latest estimate of the resistance strength in Iraq is more than 200,000 insurgents — this from General Mohamed Abdullah Shahwani, Iraqi Intelligence Service Director in an interview ahead of the Jan. 30 elections.
Bruce Hoffman, who served as an advisor to the US occupation in Iraq and now works for US-based think tank RAND Corporation, said, "I believe General Shahwani's estimation, given that he is referring predominately to active sympathizers and supporters and to part-time as well as full-time active insurgents, may not be completely out of the ballpark."
Our government has been trying to put a favorable spin on this occupation for over two years now. Do you recall both President Bush's and Donald Rumsfeld's statements about not letting a small band of bad guys, criminals and Saddam's men shake our resolve? Well, before we ever invaded Iraq, so many Middle East scholars and terrorism experts were predicting that what would happen is exactly what is happening right now. And it all hinged on the knowledge of both the religious fervor in the Middle East and the spirit of the Iraqi people. This buildup of tremendous anger has taken place over many, many years of U.S. foreign policies in the Middle East, not the least of which has been our unwavering support of Israel.
Terrorists don't hate democracy. They hate how a mighty nation has imposed its economic, political and military influence upon their region of the world for self-serving purposes.
This is the way we are viewed, whether you think this right or wrong. These are the attitudes and resentments, which we are facing right now in the Middle East, and not just in Iraq where it involves daily killings and guerrilla type warfare.
By our ill-advised venture, militarily, into the hornets’ nest of Iraq, we have unwittingly elevated the entire Middle East terrorist movements — al Qaeda being simply one of them.
It is time for the American people to speak out and let it be known that "the emperor is wearing no clothes."
Bob McClellan
Polson
