Why Kill the Garbage Collectors?
It is not entirely wrong to focus on the American death toll in Iraq – they are our children. But it is surely wrong to focus entirely on the American death toll. In recent polls, the Iraqi public shows increased confidence in the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces and wants the U.S. military to withdraw in a short time frame. The American public agrees.
It is not entirely wrong to focus on the American death toll in Iraq – they are our children. But it is surely wrong to focus entirely on the American death toll. In recent polls, the Iraqi public shows increased confidence in the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces and wants the U.S. military to withdraw in a short time frame. The American public agrees.
The President’s press conference, the joint press conference of Gen. Casey and Amb. Khalilzad in Iraq, and some excellent on-the-scene reporting by Nibras Kazimi at The New York Sun, offer a formula for ensuring that the al-Maliki government has standards to meet as regards its own citizens, and American help to meet them.
It is clear that U.S. strategy has progressed steadily through the elements of Iraqi reconstruction – though not in a straight tactical line: invasion, liberation, occupation, appointed provisional government, elected transitional government, constitution writing and ratification, and elected permanent government. Along the way, coalition forces have built an Iraqi military from the ground up (successful in maintaining its allegiance to the State though not yet self-sufficient) and a police force stitched up from existing units (much less successful – 3,000 of them were fired last week, including two generals). Now the U.S. has laid down six goals for Iraqi government progress toward reconciliation, primarily by meeting some of the political promises made to the Sunni minority:
- Passing a law that would guarantee the sharing of Iraq’s oil wealth
- Amending the Constitution
- Turning the de-Baathification Committee into a reconciliation body
- Disbanding Shiite militias
- Setting a date for provincial elections
- Increasing the credibility and capability of Iraqi forces
Encouraging/pushing to help/make the al-Maliki government keep those promises is enormously important because, for all internecine warfare (including increasing Shiite on Shiite violence in the south), the Sunni members of the government have remained committed to the Iraqi state – which keeps functioning. Kazimi writes:
The Iraqi state continues to function and improve its performance. Salaries are being paid, oil is being sold, and the incredibly complex monthly food-ration system is still up and running. The anti-corruption arm of the government is doing marvelous work in prosecuting the guilty, which is a first for the Middle East. Given that the insurgents kill municipal trash collectors for simply doing their jobs, it is no small feat that any garbage is being picked up at all. The insurgents continue to threaten teachers and professors, yet schools are open. It is these simple acts of courage – to keep going amidst all the threats of terror – which were on display during the elections, but they keep happening daily even when the cameras stop rolling.
Why kill garbage collectors? Because clean streets presage an orderly future under a competent government. Undermining the Iraqi people and American media’s belief in the ability of the elected Iraqi government to govern and the people to survive is the only way the insurgents can win. It seems undermining the second is leagues easier than undermining than the first.