Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass..... From a Dumb Ass's point of view, what are the real options we have in about, and over Iraq? After actually having been there, especially without a particular mission to achieve either militarily or politically, one can reflect on what was seen and what you walked away in your memory bank with. I went to Bahrain in '87 or '88. It was at the height of Iranian Khomeni's antics attacking boats out in the Persian Gulf when ever that was. Bahrain was said to be one of the richest countries on the planet and big money banking was their game. But the regular people in Bahrain were distant in their demeanor and I don't mean because they were of a different culture, but simply because they just never seemed to be completely 'plugged in'. Some were, but the majority were not. The threat of terrorism was very high but I paid little attention to it and went where ever I wanted to the disappointment of my appointed escorts and bodyguard. It became a game for me to sneak off when they weren't looking. One of the odd things was first, Bahrain was not and is not a free country and never was, and is instead a Monarchy run by the Royal family. Consequently, all those who were a part of the Royal family, be it ever so distant, were well educated with much grace and poise, as were those in position with the Royal Family, while the subjects in general were completely opposite. One block either direction away from main street revealed a very different world where poverty was plain and hunger lived, along with filth and the dregs of humanity. Those were generally ill educated with little beyond survival, very clannish, very religious, very superstitious and what ever other 'very's' imagination can come up with. Later during The Gulf War I spent some time in that part of the world again and I found Saudi Arabia to be much the same way, likewise Kuwait. I didn't have the pleasure of actually crossing the line into Iraq but I spent some time close enough to look at the Iraqi landscape. They were all Monarchies, except Iraq which was a Republic, But all the way through that part of the world the people are very much the same. Either people of means or dirt poor barely surviving with nothing that resembled a middle class. They all had religious dedication in common, with the very poor far more dedicated to faith (Muslim of course) and very fearsome of offending God, and very suspicious of any one who was foreign. So, how does this Dumb Ass see our possibles? Not very good, and no options that will work that we're willing to do. For those of us who believe America can train any Iraqi force to keep the peace and defend the country, that portion of us blazes past being naive headed toward complete ignorance at blinding speed. Iraqi's are all people with tunnel vision direction where God comes first in every breath and deed. That, we are unable to understand, so we therefore cannot appreciate what their gameplan would be, but it would be civil war at its most brutal. The civil war itself, unchecked, we will be held accountable for. The damage and rubble we leave plus the complete breakdown of society will add to the fury and fuel WW3. If we stay, there is no departure of our forces possible in any one's natural life that is presently breathing, which means they're just gonna keep pickin' us off like birds on a powerline and confound us on every corner. Which means, if we just keep on doing what we've been doing, the same things that's been happening will keep on happening. Some day that will have to stop and Americans will demand we pull out. When it does, our departure in failure will spawn the same WW3 beginning anyway, so, I suppose it's either start it now, or start it later. This is NOT like the Viet-Nam war. They had an opposing military force that declared victory and took charge with the peoples blessings. There is no such thing and no such hope in Iraq. What a mess........