Losing Face Beats Losing Lives
By: Rick Hamrick
Where is my country headed?
I spent a lot of energy in my teens, acting as a member of a huge portion of our population, informing our leadership that they were letting us down. I was too young to be called to Viet Nam, but that did not deter me from protesting.
The end of our involvement in Viet Nam proved something: we can walk away without gnashing teeth over somehow having abandoned a country. News flash: you cannot “abandon” a country that really, *really* wants you gone. It’s no longer abandonment if you depart when you have worn out your welcome. Certainly, there were a lot of people who suffered as a result of our pulling out of Viet Nam. Those people deserved better than they got, and I’m sorry we helped place them at risk. Still, no healing of that country could take place until we were gone.
We have so overstayed our welcome in Iraq that we are now viewed with even more disdain than we ever have been, worldwide. Earned? You bet! At some point, it is no longer about right and wrong. We are imposing over 100,000 arms-bearing visitors on Iraq, and they would rather we figure the right direction to the exit door than insist we know the right direction for their country.
My support of the US troops as individuals in Iraq is unwavering…in fact, it is so unwavering that I seek to have them come home as a higher priority than seeking any particular outcome in Iraq. It is time for Iraq to be returned to rule by its own devices. If they choose to kill each other, it is time for our own troops to be out of the line of fire. If Iraqis choose peace, amen! That’s when the United States can truly help: when Iraq figures out how to stop the insanity within its own borders. Just as in Viet Nam, the healing will not begin until our military forces are gone.
Right now, we are spilling the blood of thousands into the sand. Many times more Iraqis have died than US military members, and thousands more have died because they came to Iraq specifically to kill Americans. They are just as dead, regardless of their horrible motivation. If we seek to spark the growth of democracy in Iraq, we need to recognize that nothing grows from sand wetted with blood.
Rick Hamrick has been a student of the inner path for 12 years. His talents are largely underutilized, so he is using this forum to exercise the muscles of his inner wisdom to work them into shape.