Many Americans want the United States to leave Iraq ASAP. There even has been a petition supported by the liberal organization MoveOn to let the United Nations take over the Iraq reconstruction. Talk about a catastrophe waiting to happen! While it's easy to comprehend why many want the U.S. to get out of Iraq, there must be a better way to do it than to relinquish our control to an inept and often corrupt U.N.
Quite frankly, and realistically, the U.N. couldn't fight its way out of a paper bag. Furthermore, the global organization is notorious for its lack of peacekeeping capability and inability to take control of crisis situations when needed. Were it not for the ongoing military, political and financial support of the United States, the U.N. would have crumbled into non-existence decades ago. (Heck, we even provide its headquarters, right here in the good ol' USA. Ever wonder why we still do that?)
The fact of the matter is most Mideast countries despise the U.S., yet that doesn't stop them from accepting endless streams of American taxpayer and corporate contributions, provided via our monetary foreign aid, products and services. The Mideast countries in the U.N. veto U.S. proposals and resolutions 70 to 80 percent of the time.
It is even arguable that much of the money spent by terrorist groups for their destructive activities comes in large part from American dollars we provide – and that includes the 9-11 travesty. In essence, we are providing terrorist organizations with the resources to eliminate ourselves.
Currently, the U.S. is working with Iraqi special interests to ensure that our investments there remain secure. If we were to leave tomorrow, the lives and money we invested would be lost, and we still would be at risk of further terrorist attacks.
As we proceed, we need to be asking ourselves:
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- Why do we continue to support the volatile governments of the Middle East?
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- Why does the U.S. remain a large supporter of the United Nations?
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- Why hasn't the Bush administration pursued punishment for Saudi Arabia, since most of those terrorists involved in the 9-11 activities were citizens of or held ties to that nation?
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- Why does the U.S. continue to send trillions of American dollars to the very same Mideast countries that hate us so much and continue to harm us by using our own money, products and services to defeat and annihilate us?
These are some very good questions that require some very good responses from the Bush administration.
In essence, we are killing ourselves, and as a nation, we need to consider changing the dynamics of this reality. A first step toward that goal is to provide a tangible and responsible plan and timeline to turn over the governing of Iraq to its people, and to return American soldiers without further incident.
Peter Stern
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