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NO GOOD MOVES. Via Kevin Drum, this is why we have got to get out of Iraq. It has genuinely gotten to the point where every single thing we do there no matter how it looks in theory or on paper is going to contribute to some horrible, morally repugnant outcome. Today's Exhibit A: The drive to get the Iraqi Army to" stand up" is strengthening anti-U.S. would-be genocidaires:
The U.S. military drive to train and equip Iraq's security forces has unwittingly strengthened anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, which has been battling to take over much of the capital city as American forces are trying to secure it...."Half of them are JAM. They'll wave at us during the day and shoot at us during the night," said 1st Lt. Dan Quinn, a platoon leader in the Army's 1st Infantry Division, using the initials of the militia's Arabic name, Jaish al Mahdi...."All the Shiites have to do is tell everyone to lay low, wait for the Americans to leave, then when they leave you have a target list and within a day they'll kill every Sunni leader in the country. It'll be called the `Day of Death' or something like that," said 1st Lt. Alain Etienne, 34, of Brooklyn, N.Y. "They say, `Wait, and we will be victorious.' That's what they preach. And it will be their victory."Some would argue that America has a moral obligation to stay in order to prevent this brutal outcome. But who is the U.S. supposed to ally itself with in such a situation? The anti-U.S. Sunni insurgents? Al-Qaeda? No -- we're fighting them. And thereby helping the Madhi Army, and strenghtening Iran -- whom we are also sort of fighting. What if every side is one we can't support? And there is no morally superior side we can ally ourselves with? We should stay to strengthen the hand of the slaughterers? Do we not also become complicit in the crimes of the Iraqis by allying ourselves with them? And where is the morality in that?
--Garance Franke-Ruta
