Monday, January 29, 2007

What to Do in Iraq

Glenn Greenwald has a 9 minute video clip from the BBC showing what life is like for our troops in Iraq. The beginning shows the Shia militia beating up some Sunnis as our troops cheer them on from their vehicles. They describe it as "giving him the Rodney King treatment."

I'm torn by this. It's obviously an example of how we're not helping. What's missing is how common is this. Is this just the problem of one (or a few) group(s) or are many of our troops screwing up this badly? If this is the mission, then we're just participating in ethnic cleansing.

The second half of the film shows troops finding a sniper site and trying to help oppressed mixed Sunni-Shia families. It puts a real (innocent) face on the violence. My sad guess is that there isn't a solution to two sects hating each other. There are countless other examples of this and I don't think humanity has come up with an answer. Still does that mean we don't try? What about in Darfur? I'm liking religion even less.

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