Lynn WloszekConcessions key in seeking help
We went into Iraq and broke a bunch of windows.
The Iraqi people — and their leader — hadn’t done anything, or threatened
to do anything, to us; they just made their house look creepy and holed up
in it, refusing to come out.
When we decided it was time to draw out Saddam Hussein, we broke all his
windows. Instead of coming out to face us, he ran, leaving all his people
in a house with no heat, water or sanitation.
Now it’s time to fix the windows we broke and take responsibility for
the people we left with no infrastructure and few ways to survive. Because
this enormous job can’t be undertaken alone, we must ask our friends — and
newly made enemies — for help fixing the house we damaged without their consent
or cooperation.
Well, those friends (and newly made enemies), mainly France, Germany and
Russia, rose above our pettiness and said they would help — with conditions.
They will accept U.S. military leadership, but our government must let go
and allow the United Nations and Iraqis to run the fledgeling government.
Essentially, other nations will let us guard the front door, since that
seems to be what we’re focused on, but the entire community must help put
the house back together.
It should happen. But Secretary of State Colin Powell and President George
W. Bush immediately spoke against the Security Council amendment, saying
it would be irresponsible to give governing rights to the Iraqis, who
deserve them.
It’s not right for a single country to build another, nor is it right
to deny the people a right to build their own government and infrastructure.
France, Germany and Russia hit it right on the nose: The people who live
in the house, with the help of everyone else in the neighborhood, should
rebuild it to their specifications at the expense of the little brats who
left the house in shambles.
We broke all the windows. That doesn’t mean we can rebuild the house as
a mirror image of our own — especially when we don’t have the money or the
manpower to do it alone.
The U.S. needs to make some concessions and let the U.N. do what it is good at. We can’t be a lone ranger forever.
Life News Editor Heather Bell can be reached for comment at ane3@cm-life.com.
Hateful nations will harm effort
Defenders of the United Nations want the United States to depend on countries
such as France, Russia, China, Germany and Pakistan to help us realize our
national interests.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan, said in support of the U.N., “even
the most powerful countries know that they need to work with others, in multilateral
institutions, to achieve their aims.”
And he is right. Working with other countries is a worthy goal — but cooperating
with countries that have a varying level of hatred toward us is not. When
the main players of the U.N. are countries that have shown they hate America
and its ideals, we should not let them decide what is in our best interest.
When the United States deals with the U.N., it should be for aid in food
production, infrastructure improvements, monitoring elections and clearing
mine fields.
Help from the U.N. on those issues would be a break for the American taxpayers, something I almost always support.
But leave the work of soldiers to the Americans and our closest allies,
especially when U.S. troops lives are on the line. Especially when it is
a country such as Germany, whose president was elected using a blatant anti-American
platform. Or France, whose entire population is cynical of everything American.
I’d prefer the suits at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. make those decisions affecting
American troops. And we don’t need more troops, or more countries to help
us in Iraq. Liberals are constantly complaining that we need the support
of the U.N., and the countries that make up the U.N., to finish the job.
But why take in countries that don’t want to follow our direction?
There now are 29 countries, 20,000 soldiers and two multinational divisions
operating in Iraq, part of the coalition that President Bush helped make.
These nations understand and support America’s goals.
In Iraq, things are getting better. Schools and hospitals are opening,
and there is an operating free press. Basic utilities are returning, and
we are reconstructing the infrastructure.
Not only that, but we have also created a governing body made up of Iraqis.
The council is made up of 25 people who are beginning to write a constitution
for Iraq.
As Secretary of State Colin Powell said, “We are doing what everybody wants us to do and what we said we would do.”
Life News Editor Stephen Tait can be reached for comment at ane2@cm-life.com.