Oh, The Irony

Couldn't help having a chuckle this morning. Before the war, and immediately upon its inception, I couldn't get the LA Times to even sniff at my letters to the editor, which were clearly against the war. Representative samples are linked to in the previous post.

Now, I finally write and send something seemingly supporting the war, or at least taking care to be aware of our responsibilities if we consider withdrawing, and I get printed. They actually did a fair job of editing the letter, which turns out to be a post I put out a few days ago. Like I've said, the weekend was a wild one. Does this mean I should remove my old post now, since it's the property of the LA Times (at least their edited version)?

So I'm on the record as supporting the war and forcefully implying that Europe should come on board and do the same. The context will be hard to draw from that letter, but it does speak for itself, in terms of reminding everyone the focus should be on the everyday Iraqi not involved in the violence.

The combination of our sanctions over the past decade and this latest military engagement have raised the spectre of a health and immunization disaster in Iraq. Our decisions need to be made with this primary focus, and not whether we have total control over the future of Iraq's government. We need to immediately turn this operation over to NATO, on the military occupation side, and to the UN, on the civilian and institutions side.

This should be enough to win back enough of the hearts and minds of Iraqis to turn the tide against the guerrillas. Maybe. Either way, it's the best chance at this point, in the face of the known risks. Security needs to be reestablished in Iraq, so that international aid agencies and NGO's can get back into the country and serve those who desperately need assistance.