You hear a loud crash as your front door is kicked to the floor, followed by a bright flash of light. You grip your AK-47 as thoughts of self-preservation flood your consciousness. Next, you see a small squad, consisting of Iraqi and U.S. troops, enter your bedroom. You raise the assault rifle to fire, but are immediately disposed of as M-16 cartridges empty in your area. You are an insurgent.
An insurgent, by definition, is “a person who rises in revolt against civil authority or an established government” according to Webster’s dictionary.
As of June 2005, Iraq and the United States developed a plan to lower the amount of such enemies of the state from the northwestern Iraqi city of Tal Afar. The city is located forty miles from the Syrian border.
This operation, commonly known as the Tal Afar Offensive, was originally carried out by the Iraqi military, but as of Thursday, September 8, 2005, the U.S. Army has announced its participation in the offensive.
Along with this announcement, U.S. military representatives stated that approximately 200 “fighters” have either been killed or captured in the city of Tal Afar.
Since President Bush’s declaration of America’s suspicion of “weapons of mass destruction” being harbored in Iraq, the U.S. has had a hands on approach in dealing with this Middle Eastern nation.
However, it is time for American troops to back out. It is not, nor has it ever been, our priority to rid a foreign nation of insurgents, especially when that foreign nation is more than capable of completing the operation alone.
One has to consider the question of whether or not it is ethical for American troops to continue to be placed in unnecessary danger.
The Iraqi government, on the whole, has been reformed with the assistance of the United Nations and the United States and is essentially stable.
With its reconstructed government, economy, and military, Iraq should be able to handle the insurgents without U.S. support. The longer we stay in Iraq, the more we put Americans at danger.
As recently discovered by U.S. government officials through several posts on the Internet, a group of militants in Iraq has placed hits on Iraqi government officials beginning at $100,000 and continuing downward.
It is time that the United States government and military focuses on the issues within our borders.
The Tal Afar Offensive is simply putting more pressure on the U.S. military and is taxing the will and faith of the American people.
By remaining in Iraq and fighting individuals who present no threat to the United States, we continue to propagate this image of being the “world police.”
The issue of fighting insurgents and continuing to interfere with the Iraqi government is a question of our ethics.
Now that Iraq has been reformed, let us as a nation reform our ethics and priorities.
