guerrillaradio
15th February 2004, 20:34
The McCuenist theory that counter-insurgency only stops "when the last conspirator stops conspiring" has proved to be wrong. You can't kill dissent. Every "terrorist" (sic) the American army kills or captures only leads to another one picking up arms. This has been proved time and time again, in India in the 19 century, in Algeria in the 20th century, and in occupied Palestine more or less every week. That there are people still fighting occupational forces proves that there is anti-US sentiment in Iraq. Even if those actually picking up arms are foreign, they are sheltered and aided by locals. If the US refuses to recognise this body of opinion in Iraq, then it is being undemocratic, which directly contradicts the mission statement upon entering Iraq: to bring it democracy. However, if it were to allow former Ba'athists and their loyalists to stand, it would not be removing Saddam from Iraq fully. Hence, the US, again, finds itself in a tricky position and would probably have been better off not getting involved.