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The Global Citizen: Iraq
As published in the Huffington Post
President Obama, speaking from the Oval Office, told the nation (and the world) that it is time to "turn the page" now that U.S. combat operations have officially ended in Iraq. And while he talked about what we learned from the last "page," the President missed an important part of the Iraq war's lesson. If we learned anything in Iraq, it's that our nation is most successful when we work in close cooperation with other nations as opposed to going at it alone. Our greatest strength is when we convince nations to join together and play by a common set of rules that we are also willing to adhere to.
President Obama correctly told us that:
"...one of the lessons of our effort in Iraq is that American influence around the world is not a function of military force alone. We must use all elements of our power -including our diplomacy, our economic strength, and the power of America's example -to secure our interests and stand by our allies."
Today the House Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight held a hearing concerning U.N. Chapter VII Mandates and Resolutions on Iraq.
On June 10th, 2009, the U.S. Institute of Peace hosted Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, Dr. Rafe' Al-'Eissawi, in a discussion on Iraq's future following the
phased withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of 2011.
Wired.Com has just released a set of previously unseen images from Abu Gharib that were recently used in a presentation on torture at the TED conference in Monterey, California. The photos are horrific (viewer discretion is advised) and will certainly reopen the global debate on torture and U.S. actions in Iraq. There is little doubt that the U.S.
I heard Sen. Dick Lugar deliver some insightful remarks this morning on energy, Iraq, and U.S. foreign policy at the 20/20 Vision National Summit on Energy Security. The talk was an acceptance speech for the first ever Energy Security Leadership Award.
As you may have gathered from some of my previous writings, I am a native of Detroit, Michigan. Though my wife and son and I live in a Washington, D.C. suburb of Maryland, I am a Motown guy through and through. From my choice in music - Seger over Springsteen and the Four Tops over any other type of R&B -- to my passion for the various Detroit sports teams - I may be an inside-the-beltway observer, but you can't take the Motor City street cred away from me (even my four-year old son loves the Tigers and Red Wings; wonder how that happened?)
The British government is facing a pubic inquiry into their use of torture in Iraq after the Law Lords found for the family of Baha Mousa, an Iraqi hotel receptionist who died in British Army custody. He died after being held and tortured by British forces over a 36 hour period. An inquiry now seems inevitable and, as it begins to unfold, it will surely increase the pressure on the U.S. to form an Independent Bipartisan Commission to look into torture and interrogation issues.
As the issue of "aggressive" interrogation has become increasingly prevalent on the public radar since the Abu Ghraib scandal in 2004, the words of one commentator that torture reflects a problem with the barrel rather than merely a few bad apples (in reference to officially sanctioned U.S. interrogation policy), seems clear.
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