war on iraq.. where do we go?

[all_i_want]

hi everyone

im from turkey, and i consider myself a very liberal person, i dont really see myself belonging to any of the religions, although i do believe in a god.

with that out of the way, id like to say how i feel about the war and bigger picture, the war on terrorism.

first of all, lets admit this, war in iraq had nothing to do with the war on terrorism. although he was a ruthless dictator, saddam was not aligned with al quaida or other religious extremists, because he needed to supress them to continue his reign. there were not WMDs. iraq was completely incapable of doing any harm to US.

then US invasion. saddam is gone, and now all the religious extremists and mullahs he has supressed all these years are out to share iraq the way they like it. elections will be a catastrophe. shiites will vote in legions for their own religious leaders. iraq will become another iran.

sorry to break the news, but US is not going to 'stabilize' iraq any time soon. it is the worst debacle theyve faced since vietnam.

all this tell me just one thing: it will not make MY country a safer place. it will not make the world a safer place. inciting religious hatred amongst millions is never a good idea.

turkey was attacked by al quaida last year in november. hundreds died, not a month later, spain was attacked. then started the attacks and raids on our people working in iraq. truck drivers. engineers. charity workers.

there is so much violence there. and US burning a city (fallujah) to ground doesnt help.

i remember the 9/11. i just came home from school and my mom was watching those planes crashing into the WTC. i was petrified. they were americans, but the whole world cried for them. they were innocent, they should have been out of the harm's way.

the truth is millions are in harms way in iraq right now. most of them are not terrorists. theyre not any less innocent.

on the other hand, imagine US was invaded. what would you do? would you not fight? would you give up? these people are manipulated by some very wrong people, but deep inside, they are doing this for their country.

i just think US has done so much good in the past, in 90s, kosovo, bosnia.. US put end to those massacres when europeans hadnt even bothered to acknowledge their existence.

then the war in afghanistan, it was justified. that country was origin of attacks and its leaders were entertwined with terrorist organizations. the world supported US in these actions.

but iraq was a totally miscalculated disaster. europeans saw it. hell, everyone in the world saw it.

now where do we go from here?

 

[pax]

It's very interesting to have a perspective from someone who lives in the region. I hope verte76 sees this thread--she knows a lot about Turkey and Turkish culture.

Thanks for joining us in FYM! Welcome!

 

[verte76]

Hi, all_i_want! I'm from the U.S, but my friends joke that I was a Turk in a former life because I'm obsessed with Turkish culture. I hope to make it to Istanbul soon where I will raid baklava shops and visit Ayasofia Museum. I agree with you about the war in Iraq. I opposed it. I think the upshot is that Iraq will turn into another Iran. I'm afraid they're going to vote for Shi'ite clerics, these guys will become all-powerful and enforce Shari'ah, and there won't be a democracy. It's scary.

 

[jer2911]

Good points all_i_want. I personally was (and still am to some extent) for the war, but I respect the view of someone who "lives in the neighborhood".