Letter from Baghdad: SSG Johnny Meyer
As Rainy Day readers know well, I supported the Iraq war. On this fifth anniversary, am I in sackcloth and ashes like all these repentants? No. It was right and proper to rid the world of a gangster who had brought untold suffering on the people of Iraq and its neighbours. Saddam's regime was also in breach of many UN Security Council resolutions, one might add.
That the military operation was a terrific success is without doubt. That the aftermath of the war was marked by shocking negligence is beyond dispute. But what is also indisputable is that the forces of jihadism, which filled the vacuum between the liberation of Baghdad and the success of the surge with absolute inhumanity, were hailed by many liberals as the "Iraqi resistance". When condemning the naivety of the war supporters, one should also consider the moral blindness of its opponents. Those who were willing to make common cause with the barbarians who have killed and mutilated thousands of innocents are bankrupt. They represent an appeasement movement, not a peace movement.
Staff Sergeant Johnny Meyer is an Airborne Ranger assigned to the Baghdad Provisional Reconstruction Team. His "Letter from Baghdad" appears in the spring issue of Democratiya.
"Perhaps what the 'surge' has given Baghdad is a moment of time for everyone to ask themselves if civil war is what they really want. Yet the surge is only one weight on an uncertain scale, a balance that includes the Sunni and Shia militias, the miscalculations of al-Qaeda, the ceasefire of Moqtada al-Sadr, and the influence of Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and other players. Perhaps America rolled the dice with the surge, and while it seems to be working that does not mean the game is over."
Johnny Meyer concludes with great honesty: "We are making some kind of progress. Your job is to decide if the effort is worth it." The war is over. It has been won, but securing the peace will require great patience and forfeit. Given the damage caused by Saddam's depredations, it will take decades for the Iraqis to create an agreed civil society. That does not mean 100,000 US troops will have to stay in Iraq, but it would be monstrous to abandon its people to the wolves that wish to tear the country apart. It would be especially monstrous when one thinks of what Johnny Meyer and all his comrades have sacrificed over the past five years. By the way, Michael J. Totten says you should heed What Iraqis Want You to Hear.
