{"id":426239,"date":"2010-03-12T19:22:33","date_gmt":"2010-03-12T23:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011332554_iraqielections.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-03-12T19:22:33","modified_gmt":"2010-03-12T23:22:33","slug":"iraqi-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/426239","title":{"rendered":"Iraqi elections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iraqis didn\u2019t need American help to begin with<\/strong><\/p>\n

Editor, The Times:<\/p>\n

Thomas Friedman\u2019s column \u201cGood luck, Iraqis \u2014 it\u2019s up to you now\u201d [Opinion, March 11] made some valid points regarding the hope coming from the Iraqi elections. The support of the Iraqi citizens reveals itself through their participation during the elections.<\/p>\n

However, there were parts of the article that are off-base, such as when Friedman says, \u201cFormer President George W. Bush\u2019s gut instinct that this region craved and needed democracy was always right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later Friedman writes that it could have been pursued with better planning and execution. In my opinion, no changes in planning or execution could\u2019ve made the Iraq war justifiable, let alone made Bush right in invading a country with no viable threat to the United States.<\/p>\n

Was Iraq a fair country with a strong justice system before the United States invaded? No. But it is not the job of the United States to force democracy onto a nation, especially when that democracy will cost many Americans\u2019 lives, innocent Iraqi civilians\u2019 lives and billions of dollars.<\/p>\n

Congratulations America, you\u2019ve improved a country that didn\u2019t want your help while slowly watching as your own citizens lose their jobs, patriotism and lives. But it\u2019s OK, we\u2019re just spreading democracy but never mind saving it at home.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ariana Moini, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n

Through American involvement, elections made possible<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can completely understand American sentiments toward the Iraq war \u2014 it was poorly thought out and poorly executed. In a region of the world where only a select portion of the population is given basic rights, our crusade for democracy has been slow in coming to fruition. In fact, it is arguable that our efforts will be completely fruitless in the long run.<\/p>\n

However, the elections that took place are worth celebrating. I firmly believe that it is solely through America\u2019s involvement in Iraq that these elections have become possible \u2014 and we should continue to provide our undivided support throughout the entire election process.<\/p>\n

Until it is clear that a strong, democratic force is in power in Iraq, we cannot leave. Our international image is already too tarnished to deal with the possibility of these elections backfiring or failing in the final hours \u2014 for such an unstable region, the results could be devastating, to all parties involved.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Aidan O\u2019Sullivan, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iraqis didn\u2019t need American help to begin with Editor, The Times: Thomas Friedman\u2019s column \u201cGood luck, Iraqis \u2014 it\u2019s up to you now\u201d [Opinion, March 11] made some valid points regarding the hope coming from the Iraqi elections. The support of the Iraqi citizens reveals itself through their participation during the elections. However, there were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}