There reaches a point when you just need to admit that you were and are wrong. No matter how many times the Bush administration is told that their occupation of Iraq is unjustified and clearly wasteful (at this point, but one could argue that they did at least some good with the removal of Hussain’s regime), they still push for a longer stay. The Shia’s clearly don’t want U.S. forces to stick around for another three years, and as mentioned by Stephen Harper, there is a point where the foreign government in question needs to be responsible for the governance of its own country. Iraq now has an established government, and is far from the dramatic instability that plagues Afghanistan.
A leading Shia cleric al-Sadr has said that “…anyone who claims the agreement will end ‘occupation of our land’ or ‘tells you that it gives Iraq sovereignty is a liar’” (CBC). He is absolutely right, and Iraq needs to be given back their sovereignty, and a western power who takes the governance of a foreign country in their owns hands is not granting it. It’s been a long time since the instalment of the current Iraqi government, so I think its about time they high tail it out of there and worry about the current issue of Sarah Palin potentially becoming the next President of the United States.
Just a side note: the reports are saying that a million strong in support of al-Sadr have participated in the demonstrations against this deal. I don’t remember the last time there were that many people protesting at once. I wonder if a million protestors matter to this administration. If they don’t listen to their own people protesting in the U.S., I don’t think they’ll be listening to the Iraqis either.
