Screaming Penguin

Momentous day in Iraq, the sovereignty of the nation has been restored and the hand over of power from the "Coalition Authority" has been officially completed.

Congratulations and and profound gratitude are in order for the US and other Coalition troops involved in the Iraq situation. Regardless of the motives and implementation disagreements and difficulties in the ensuing conflict the people on the ground doing the work deserve great praise. These are not people making decisions about "nation building" but rather people that are asked to risk and even lose their lives for whatever cause their governments decide worthy. Even when the decisions of said governments and said "worth" come into question, for whatever reason, the people doing the work must remain and must perform.

It can certainly be argued in the current Iraq situation that the US led invasion has not made the world a safer place. On the contrary it could even be argued that it has made the world much less safe on the whole. Regardless of that argument either way however the achievement of a Democratic Iraq, if the new sovereign nation manages to emerge and remain as such, is an enormously important and momentous one.

In the future it is plausible and arguable that a free Democratic Iraq where actual learning, truth and due process may be allowed could be a very important and influential place. That place may be a champion of freedom, literacy, education and the result of that may be a decline in fundamentalist violence and terrorism in that part of the world.

Taken as a whole I do not personally agree with the path taken by the United States in the Iraq situation. I feel that horrendous errors in judgment and decision making have created a situation where US credibility in international relations have been deeply harmed, where instability will be present in Iraq for a long time, where fundamentalism and violence around the world will be increased and where thousands of people died for a cause that was not sanctioned by the international community and in fact was mired in deception surrounding its purported motives. Despite these personal beliefs though I recognize the great resulting achievement of a free and Democratic Iraq and offer credit for it where it is due, to the Bush administration and to the US and Coalition military forces.

  U.S. returns sovereignty to Iraq: CNN