The War in Iraq The Jakarta Post, Friday, 23 January 2009
As it is likely the Iraqi War will come to an end soon, many people will start counting the cost of the tragedy – on businesses, employment, education, and on the past glory of the country of “1001 nights”. Many enterprises and businesses have been shut down. With predictable consequences: Massive unemployment. Thousands of workers have been thrown into the streets. The number of gangs, militias, and insurgent groups has increased. The desperate tragedy has also hit education, where more than 250 instructors have been killed since 2003 and some 2000 have fled. They left Iraq for their neighboring countries along with other Iraqis – shopkeepers and middle-class people such as engineers, scientists, civil servants and businessmen – seeking to find a way out of the country in order to survive. It should make Muslims cry seeing how Iraq, an old country with such a glorious past, is now deteriorating. The past achievements, which have been well-known, respected and admired, have been destroyed by the war. Many expect that the US will withdraw their troops immediately. But unlike other wars, that usually create the appearance of heroes, the Iraqi war will likely end with condemnation of the masterminds. Many have named Bush as a war criminal who has committed serious crimes against humanity. Another important lesson learned is that more and more people oppose any kind of war. Even Americans believe that the Iraqi War is a dirty war. The question concerning the genuine motive of the war is still unanswerable – insurgency, war on terrorism, invasion, occupation, colonization, imperialism, oil, revenge, protecting Israel’s interests or what? While still in the dark about what triggered Bush to initiate the war, the impact of the war is obvious – huge losses affecting all parties involved, including the US and the Iraqi people. SUSILO UMARDANI Malang, East Java Source: THE JAKARTA POST URL: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/01/23/letter-the-war-iraq.html ___________________________________________________________________________ Nama baru untuk Anda! Dapatkan nama yang selalu Anda inginkan di domain baru @ymail dan @rocketmail. Cepat sebelum diambil orang lain! http://mail.promotions.yahoo.com/newdomains/id/
