Should we stay in Iraq?

“JAPAN and GERMANY were in WORSE position than IRAQ
YET these countries REDEVELOPED themselves with
determination to built a new advanced economy.
and today ONE OF THE LEADING ECONOMIES OF THE WORLD..”
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This was a quote that caught my eye.
Speaking from personal experience… I worked very closely with interpreters in Iraq. They spoke of the how They’re country was with Saddam In power, and how he would parade through the streets, stop get out of his car, walk up to one of the onlookers and shook him/her in the head. Then get back in his car and carry on. But, the Interpreter who told me this, told me with a certain glare in his eyes. He spoke as if he revered Saddam for his actions, for the way he ran his country. Yet, at the same time he told me what life was like before we came to liberate them. He told me about how he used to walk the streets of Bagdad late at night with the cool breeze washing out any worry that may have existed. But, now he’s afraid to step out of his front door. He explained that yes, Saddam was an Iron fist when it comes to rule, but there was no stealing, no looting, or killing like there is now.
I talked to another interpreter who was a General under Saddam. This man was the most humble man you would ever meet. He spoke of how great America is and how he love American history, especially the conception and construction of America. He could name every President and tell you a little about him. He knew more about American history than an American history teacher probably does. Yet, when he spoke of Iraq you could hear the pain in his voice. He said he was disappointed in his people. Here they have an opportunity like America did not too long ago, and instead of taking advantage of this opportunity they have thrown it away. Their government is corrupt, they steal money from the people. The insurgents are being paid by us the United States to report weapons cache’s. he said they usually report cache’s of weapons and ammo that are unusable.
I talked to many interpreters and the census among the majority was that they believe the US is making things worse, and they believe that if we leave their quality of life will improve.
My personal opinion? The war on Terrorism is like the war on drugs. As long as there is a safe place for the production of the product the war will never end. If drugs can be smuggled into our country so can terrorists.
When gangs in America kill each other what’s the motive. Usually it starts out with one person getting killed. Then the retaliation starts. Back and forth it goes, right? Well, in the process the children of these gangs are seeing their uncles die, their fathers, even their mothers, so what do they do? They join the gang and the cycle continues. Over what? Why? Revenge, retaliation, hate? The same thing will continue to happen in Iraq. As we try to secure the region innocent people get in the way. The worst part is some of those interpreters that I worked with could have been terrorists. With the way some of them talked you would think they could be. A terrorist is a person with a lot of hate and nothing to lose. With the condition Iraq is in right now, I would say there are a lot of people with nothing to lose.
(I know, being a soldier in the US Army, I’m not aloud to have an opinion, but I don’t care).

Xenophon Zales