Friday, May 04, 2007

Open Letter: My Burden of Conscience   [Steve Schippert]

Dear Senators Reid and Schumer (et al),

As members of the party that is constantly reminding America of the superiority of its members' compassion, I find it personally curious that none such seems to exist for the Iraqi people. How else can your readiness, nay impatience, for a withdrawal of United States military forces from their country be explained?

If your unspecified and unqualified recent statements desiring a "redeployment" of US forces to the periphery in order to "Transition the Mission" and "focus it more narrowly on counterterrorism" were in place today, how many Iraqi school children would have been murdered in the coming days?

With the recent uncovering of a terrorist plot involving construction contractors, a girl's school being constructed was also concurrently being wired with artillery shells and propane tanks in the walls and ceilings throughout during the build. Had the soldiers of the First Cavalry Division been placed far from the Iraqis where you desire them with the mission you broadly term "counterterrorism," what consequences would have been brought to bear on these innocent children and their families?

Effective counterterrorism requires actionable intelligence. Actionable intelligence on the enemy in Iraq requires the cooperation of the Iraqi people, who are willing desperately to do so. But they will not come forward if the ultimate reward is only to find their family members vengefully murdered and tortured for their actions. They will not come forward without consistent presence of friendly forces (that's us) whom they sense will protect them (from the ravages of al-Qaeda, the enemy - theirs and ours). We must be on the ground with them until their enemy and ours is eradicated.

You are intelligent men. This lesson surely did not go unnoticed by you in Ramadi, where actionable intelligence has enabled the weakening of al-Qaeda and the large-scale defection of once-intimidated Sunni Iraqi tribes. They have seen their enemy among them, upon them, and they have rejected them with the confidence of our presence and cooperation. That shift was the result of average Iraqis and their tribal leaders believing that the strong US presence in Ramadi was not a fleeting one nor one that would be abandoning them.

Yet your very public words convey to those Sunni Iraqis that they may have made the same monumental and lethal mistake the Shi'a in Southern Iraq made in 1991. Recall - as they do - that it was American political leadership that betrayed their trust once their American-encouraged revolt against a murderous tyrant was irrevocably under way.

On what principles of conscience are we to base a repeat of such national behavior?

Just seven short months ago, an Assyrian priest, Father Paulos Iskander, was kidnapped and beheaded. A 14-year old child and parishioner was crucified. Their crime? Christianity. What unspeakable horrors then await the families of those who are now openly betraying al-Qaeda in Iraq if we abandon them now?

One is left - outside the Beltway - with the firm and undeniable sense that the burden of conscience would be borne far more greatly in the hearts and minds of men like me, with little power beyond the conviction of principle, than upon the hearts and minds of those in Washington attempting to abandon the Iraqi people while astoundingly calling it "counterterrorism."

Though I was a Marine deployed in the Gulf War, I did not fully understand the 'geopolitics' then. Yet, since 1991, I have quietly borne the internal burden of conscience when our leadership abandon the Shi'a of southern Iraq after inspiring them into a rebellion and guaranteeing their protection. That burden was magnified over a decade later when the mass graves were unearthed after the fall of Saddam. What I knew in my heart was confirmed through my eyes. Driven largely by the weight of that burden of conscience, I understand fully today.

Just as I understand that the pursuit of the 'status quo' was a dishonorable geopolitical aim in 1991, I also understand that abandoning Iraqis with ruthless terrorists in their midst in pursuit of "counterterrorism" is beyond dishonorable. It is, in fact, incredulous.

I will not - I cannot - quietly bear the weight of yet another burden of conscience thrust upon me by the actions of others, seemingly quite prepared to once again avert their eyes from the consequences of their actions. Core principle prevents me from sharing in the convenience of such aversion.

Perhaps, in the quiet solitude of slumber, with the cameras and strategists beyond their intrusive reach, you and your colleagues will visit these thoughts. For the burden weighs heaviest upon those who were in a position to act, yet failed to do so.

Most sincerely,

Steve Schippert

05/04 12:32 AMShare