Note, for people who need this spelled out for them: this is not satire, nor is it polished. It's just what I came up with in about 5 minutes, as a thought exercise.
Let's say that a Muslim country (Iran, for the sake of argument) had been bombing the United States daily for over a decade. Then one day, they invaded our country, toppled our system of government, incarcerated and executed our President, disbanded our military, and installed a flimsy government made up mostly of people that supported their agenda. Well, you know we Americans would fight to the death before we allowed this to happen. Snipers would assassinate the puppet bureaucrats loyal to the Islamic agenda, armed bands of citizens would slaughter the traitors who joined the Iranian-trained police force, and everyday people would be stockpiling weapons, waiting for the day when the Iranian army came walking by their window, so they could have a chance to defend America from the invading horde of Iranians.
But you know, we'd also fight each other. There'd be riots in the streets. Conservatives and Liberals would start killing each other over control of towns and cities, the Religious Right would proclaim these to be the "End Days," and the Western and Northern states would become hotbeds for militias and other organizations devoted to routing out the occupying Iranian forces, as well as anyone who cooperated with them. It'd be anarchy!
And who would we, as Americans, blame for all the ills? The Iranians, of course. And not just Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. We'd blame the soldiers for following his orders. We'd hate every last Iranian, soldier or civilian. We'd probably spend the rest of our lives trying to destroy the people who we believe destroyed our country, drove us out of our homes, and killed our relatives.
Now look at Iraq, through that same lens. And before you tell me it's not the same, please note that to the Iraqi people (the ones we're trying to help), it IS the same.
It definitely needs honing, and could probably be expanded quite a bit, but is vital that we understand how the Iraqis see this conflict, so that we may better help them take ownership of their country, become self-sufficient, and get our troops home.
So, thoughts?
