The War in Iraq Can Be Won

Note: This"commentary" was written by Michael Armstrong of Elizabethtown, PA., and is posted to this Blog with the author's permission. (djb)

The war in Iraq can be won by taking a look at some history. There was at one time a group of people (the invaders) who moved into a land where there were another group of people (to be called the insurgents) already living there. The invading people found the insurgents to be nice people at first and learned some of the things the insurgents had to teach them about surviving in a savage land. The invaders and the insurgents even traded between there different people and most disputes were settled by negotiation. The insurgents saw that more and more invaders were moving into there land. The invaders made it quite clear to the insurgents that they were going to take more and more of there land from them.

The insurgents fought back by trying to repel the invaders, to even try to kill all of the invaders. In some cases whole settlements of the invaders vanished without a trace of what happened to them, in other cases not all on the invaders were killed, some children were spared and integrated into the insurgent’s way of life. The insurgents gathered together in what could be called nations to combat the invaders. So the insurgents had some new lessons to teach the invaders, different ways of warfare. Alas, the invaders had there own ways of warfare and most of the insurgent attacks were dealt with and won. Whole insurgent villages, men women and children, were wiped out never to be seen or heard of again. The invaders had superior numbers on there side now and were growing in strength and technology all the time The invaders moved more and more into the insurgents lands and met more and different kinds of insurgents. The invaders learned all they could about the insurgent’s culture and ways. The invaders grew more in numbers and raised army’s for protection from the insurgents.

These army’s attacked more insurgents and either killed whole villages and nations or herded them onto refuge camps, also known as reservations. Those that gave up the fight and took up the invaders ways of life had it a little better than those that kept the fight up but were still looked upon and treated as less than human. They were eventually herded into camps themselves but only the ones who survived the forced marches they had to make to get there. The insurgents who kept up the fight against the invaders learned of the technology the invaders had for warfare and acquired what they could by hook or crook. The insurgents were ruthless and cruel, but the invaders were even more so.

The insurgents even had elite warriors to fight the invaders. Some battles the insurgents won but most they lost and were killed or herded onto camps, this included old men women and children, none were spared. The insurgents that were in the camps were to be feed and cared for by the invaders. They were but the food and care they were promised when they surrendered was rarely given. Some insurgents in some camps broke out and banded together to either protest there treatment or to try to force the invaders out of there land. These groups were hunted and destroyed or forced back into internment camps. All in all it took the invaders about 170 years to force the insurgents to do what the invaders wanted of them. The insurgents were eventually integrated into the invaders society. Some even became famous in that they helped out immensely in the history on the invading culture. But to this day there are still reservations that the insurgents still live on in poverty, but they also have casinos to make there income.

The insurgents are of course the American Native Indians.

The invaders are the settlers of the North American continent who came over from Europe.

The 170 years is called the Indian Wars.

This is what it might take to win the war in Iraq.