Editorial

Hugh Iglarsh wrote: June 28, 2006

Chicago Tribune
435 N. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
e-mail: ctc-TribLetter@tribune.com

Dear Editor:

In regard to your editorial, "No deadline, no retreat" (June 23): How quickly the rationale behind the Iraq war keeps shifting, faster and faster, until the public can hardly keep up! Of course, this deliberate confusion is the point of any shell game. Now the bottom line is that if we leave, "it would signal that in future crises our saber will rattle feebly, like a death rasp in the night." The ability to inflict unrelenting violence on other peoples is thus the Good Housekeeping Seal that demonstrates the sincerity of our "commitments."

I hope I am not the only reader to notice that this is terrorist logic, totally opposed to the spirit of democracy, which derives legitimacy from the will of the people rather than the edge of the sword. Those outside the direct range of U.S. media propaganda understand this clearly, which is why so many people in the world today see us rather than Iran as the major threat not only to peace, but also to genuine democracy.

What is needed in Iraq is not "victory," whatever that means in the context of a foreign occupation and consequent civil war, but rather reconciliation, reparation and reconstruction. Peace can come about only after our exit from Iraq, because it is our presence there that exacerbates social divisions and makes a political settlement impossible. To leave Iraq now would be the first step toward ending the real "death rasp" now coming from that ruined country, and to restore to Iraqis at least the possibility of a sovereign, meaningful and dignified national existence.


Yours truly,

Hugh Iglarsh
Open University of the Left