what now?

So, I think I'm a pacifist. I think I'm a Left Wing Death Beast. I think I'm against the Iraq war. But...

I've had a problem since the end of the major offensive in Iraq. My problem? Well, by then we had invaded. We had taken over. We had murdered hundreds of thousands in the name of 'freedom' and 'democracy'. Now what?

Well, I started having a problem with those who still continued to call for 'troops out now'. Why? Well, if all of the occupation forces pulled out (and we all know that was never going to happen), what would happen if they did?

Democracy? Hardly.

Chaos? Possibly.

Civil war? Probably.

Theocracy? Possibly.

Saddam loyalists re-establishing a tyranny? Possibly.

The prognosis would not be good.

And then the elections were held. A majority of Iraqis had cast their vote. This, in my book, changed everything.

It meant that the Iraqi people were given a voice. There was now a democracy of sorts. Yes, you might say that it was a stacked poll. And I would agree. But once you have a democratic system, even if the intial poll is stacked, it opens up the opportunity to change things in the future.

But in the meantime, the way I see it, there needs to be some military presence there to nurture the fledgeling democracy and protect it from those who might want establish a less democratic regime.

I think the insurgency has lost it's legitimacy to continue its killing spree. It does not represent the majority of Iraqis I suspect, and as soon as the elections were held they should have swapped their weapons for ballot papers. It's a bit stupid to cry "freedom" and then boycott the elections. It's petulant and stupid. And to continue to blow people up is downright evil.

'But what about Vietnam' some say. No. The Vietnamese communists were denied elections and this gave armed struggle some legitimacy. But the Iraqi insurgents were given elections, they had the opportunity to vote. And now they have the opportunity to lobby, to politic, to protest, to agitate, agitate, agitate. And therefore, from the moment they had these opportunities, nay, freedoms, and they chose perversely to continue the killing, much of it indiscriminant and against their own people, they literally became terrorists and I can no longer support them.

The occupation forces would have nothing to shoot at if the insurgency had switched to voting and peaceful political action. No one would be dying. And therefore there would now be an irrisistable argument for the troops to be withdrawn.

I would say that the majority of Iraqis want the occupation to end. So, why not use their new democracy to achieve this? They should make sure they get a good constitution. They should then get their government to chuck the Yanks, Poms, and any other force they don't want there out.

Now, about the "Troops Out Now" crowd. I suspect they don't really have any workable answers, they're just stuck in a groove and can't see that things have changed and that it's time to move on. And they're afraid to say what I'm saying because their ideologically ossified collegues would call them traitors.

And so you get this mob mentality where no one thinks for themselves and everybody just mindlessly walks the walk, talks the talk, and chants the chant. Sheep do it too. Baaa baaa baaa.

But in case I'm wrong, come on all you clever people slagging off at me by accusing me of being pro-war and an ASIO agent to boot, tell me what you think. Show me where I'm wrong. Demolish my postion with lucid argument and brilliant reasoning...

Come on... I don't bite... I might hurl the odd angry word at you, but I don't bite...