Unqualified Offerings

By Thoreau

This morning’s Washington Post has a fascinating article on Moqtada al-Sadr (a name so nice it never gets spelled the same way twice) and his movement.  Is he a theocrat?  A sectarian warlord?  A nationalist?  A reconciliation figure?  A wolf in sheep’s clothing?  The bottom line is that nobody knows.  He leads a movement with a lot of followers in a country that’s in a civil war, he’s engaged in a lot of violence (as is usually the case in a civil war), and he may actually be better than some of the figures in the Iraqi government (which is not saying much), or he may not be.  Nobody really knows.

Two interesting quotes from the article, which may or may not be indicative of reality:

First:  (by a member of Sadr’s movement)

“We are not anti-American. We think the Americans have an important role in rebuilding Iraq, but as companies, not as an army,” Obaidi said. “We can open a new channel with the Democrats, even some of the Republicans.”

Second:  (by somebody not in Sadr’s movement)

“Moqtada is saying something, but on the ground they are doing something else,” Habib said, tossing a glance at Ibrahim, 6, his left leg in a cast. Sadr’s call to reconcile with Sunnis is “all nonsense,” she continued. “They want to know who the Sunnis are, so they can start butchering people at their own pace.”

The bottom line, however, is that nobody can really gauge the full extent or nature of his support and intentions.  Indeed, it may be that as the leader of a large movement his own intentions are less important than the set of goals that his followers are willing ot act on.

Or maybe he and his followers really just a bunch of thugs.  Entirely possible.  The bottom line is that we don’t know, and we lack the perspective or information to sort out who is interested in what.  Nor do we know, or have the ability to discern, which elements of Iraqi society are necessary for and interested in the formation of a liberal state.  So it’s the height of arrogance to think that we can build some sort of stable country in Iraq.  We can’t.  We can only muck around and sow chaos until we get tired of it, and then leave.  And then hope that at some point the Iraqis find a way to end the bloodshed.

Bring.  The Troops.  Home.  Now.