This from Jonathan Finer, of the Washington Post:

In the western city of Ramadi. Armed insurgents burst into teacher Khidhir al-Milhallawi's classroom at Sajariyah High School on Wednesday, accused him of being an agent for the CIA and Israeli intelligence, and beheaded the English instructor in front of his students, according to sudents, fellow teachers and a doctor at a local hospital...in a statement distributed in several Ramadi mosques . . . [this was] God's punishment."

I have made no secret, I was against the American War on Iraq. This, however, has nothing to do with any of those reasons. This is a culture that has embraced absolute barbarism. These people aren't ready for "freedom" or "democracy." Maybe this kind of religious fervor is fundamentally incapatable with Western democracy.

Look at the situation in Afghanistan, a key U.S. "ally" in the so-called War on the Terrorists. They wanted to put a man to death for converting to Christianity. Of course, outrage across the West! It seems an obvious wrong, doesn't it? But why? Religious freedom is one of our values. We cannot force it on people who don't want it. If they choose to put a man to death for these reasons, isn't that their democratic prerogative? Leaves the Western conscience in a quandry doesn't it. This is also a history lesson. Flash back to Vietnam circa early 1960s.

Quite to the contrary of Iraq, Vietnam wanted democracy. Ho Chi Minh had received a Western education. He was ready to build democracy in Vietnam, but the West would not help him while the French colonists kept control over Indochina. So for freedom, he turned to the Chinese communists. Then once they had their freedom from France, they were ready for a kind of democracy, but it wasn't they kind of democracy America wanted. So we went to war with them. The point is, what does America do when it tries to instill "freedom" elsewhere, and that Other takes that freedom and chooses to do things America doesn't like, or are even anti-American? And so it is once again in Iraq.

So I say pull our troops. Now. Not because I opposed the war initially or even yesterday. But because not one more American needs to die to enforce something that may never work. If we want them to be a democracy, they must learn to rule themselves. I know, I know. The counter-argument is that U.S. troops are there to save people like this teacher from the "terrorists" or "insurgents." That sounds noble, but is not realistic We cannot possibly put a security detail on every single Iraqi. Instead, our troops walk around a "conquered" country, dreading each car that turns the corner, lest it be the next suicide car bomb.

Again, shadows of Vietnam. We have not learned anything. We still use the same phrases: "shock and awe" and "hearts and minds." We still tally daily body counts as if that meant progress, and then hide the final numbers because our people don't want to know how many we lost, and the casualties on the other side must nearly border atrocity. Not to mention the report the other day of firing on and killing civilians in revenge. True? Who knows, in this case. But it is that same sign of frustration of fighting a specter, of one who could strike from anywhere, anytime. Just llike in Vietnam.

Will the United States make the same mistakes as a country, only thirty years later? Will it bear out for no good reason other than to "stay the course?" Or will we do what we allegedly went there to do? To instill democracy. To allow people to make choices. Regardless of what they think of us.

I think we should. So let's send our troops home. What about the Iraqis you ask? I truly feel for them. I cannot possibly understand the chaos of their lives. But only they can decide their destiny. Be that "freedom," "oppression," peace, or even civil war. That must be their choice.

But as for America and its role in that country? I say end the war. Say it quietly to yourself. Doesn't it sound good? End the war. And if it doesn't sound good. Ask yourself, why the hell does ending a war not sound good? And then ask who has taught you to think that way. End the war.

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