Iraqi Officials' Charges Dropped

Qassim Abdul-zahra and John Affleck from the Austin American-Statesmen (http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/world/03/06/0306iraq.html) reported that on Wednesday, March 5, 2008, two Iraqi officials were let free. Minister Hakim al-Zamili and Brig. Gen. Hameed al-Shimmari were charged with kidnapping, murder, and corruption. The charges were dropped because of the lack of evidence. Apparently, “The collapse of the case struck a blow to U.S.-backed national reconciliation efforts.” Some people said it “considers today as a black mark and a grave setback in the history of the Iraqi judiciary system. What has happened today is a big mistake that should be corrected immediately; otherwise, the country will be drawn into disaster.” The article also mentions that five days after the US pulled its troops out of north Iraq, Turkey began fighting again. I think that it is obvious no matter what we try to do by regulating over there, it doesn’t help. The best thing we can do is stay out of it. I don’t know why we were even involved in the case for these two Iraqi officials in the first place. I have had a family member die in Fallujah and I have talked to a couple of other guys that have fought/are fighting over in the Middle East. Every one of them that I have talked to and asked if they think we’re doing the right thing by being over there has said, “No”. They said that at first they had reason to be over there fighting, but now, no one wants them there and everyone is just getting killed. It drives me nuts hearing about the men and women serving our country and dying. The people in the Middle East are going to do what they want to whether it’s what we agree with or not. We can’t make peace in the world on our own, and I think that we need to get out of there and out of their business.