Good Morning Iraq

Good Morning Vietnam showed us the effects of  the USA’s war in Vietnam, do we need a Good Morning Iraq too?

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“There will be no reintroduction of American combat forces into Iraq. Nobody, I think, is looking forwards to a return to the road that we’ve travelled”, said John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State.

The world is still preoccupied with the tragic death of the great actor Robin Williams, a one of a kind comedian whose talent was so big — too heavy even for his broad shoulders.

The critics will tell you which movie, or which role has defined his career. The public will always cherish his greatest hits and yes, trivia will exploit the tragic events of Mr. Williams’s death with such intensity every honest men will start to close their eyes on every article connected to him. So, his end will be exploited as a silver mine and because of that, I will now only speak about the time when he become a world recognized star, or better to say when he became my favorite actor.

It was in time when his move Good Morning Vietnam hit cinemas around the world, a great movie about the Vietnam War and the USA’s role in it. The film is a pacifistic view and a very sarcastic approach to one of the deadliest human conflicts, after World War Two. The credo in this movie shows us a very unique way to see the effects of USA military intervention in Vietnam. 

What was the USA doing in Vietnam? Just fighting the communists and during the fight, American military counselors (the official status of hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers on Vietnamese soil) tolerated corruption among the very unpopular government of South Vietnam. 

Soldiers of South Vietnam were allies to the USA in the war against Vietcong militias, who were backed by the North Vietnamese Army, but the South Vietnamese role in the war was often dubious and dependent on the assists of U.S. forces. So, what happened?

After years of heavy fighting, millions of deaths, the U.S. decided to withdraw its own troops, and not long after their allies perished under the threat of the North. More than 58 thousand American soldiers died in Vietnam, and it seems for nothing. Many soldiers have died in Iraq too, and it seem these days that was also for nothing.

Fighting a totalitarian dictator, and soon after that terrorists from Al Qaeda, U.S. forces have tolerated corruption and a very unpopular government among locals. Yes, it is true that Iraqi soldiers fight the same enemy, but their enrolment in fighting is dubious.

Iraq is the same as the Vietnam War. Americans came, entered the conflict, and flew away. Now, every normal and progressive party in Iraq is under the threat of perishing. Terrorists from ISIL, have now rebranded the Islamic State and proclaimed its caliphate where there is no place for Christians, Jews, non-believers, or for many other Muslims.

U.S. officials are clear when they say that their forces will not enter the conflict:

“There will be no reintroduction of American combat forces into Iraq. Nobody, I think, is looking forwards to a return to the road that we’ve travelled,” said John Kerry, 

The U.S. Secretary of State added,

“What we’re really looking for here is a way to support Iraq, support their forces with either training or equipment or assistance of one kind or another, that can help them to stand on their own two feet and defend their nation.”

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The USA is still backing corruption and a very unpopular government in Iraq, which is prolonging the very same doctrine that lead to the ISIL invasion in the first place. We hope that this time history won’t be the same, and we will see how ‘normality’ will prevail in the end. We hope Good Morning Iraq has been edited for the last time. 

Robin Williams is dead, but he will be remembered and his role in the mentioned movie must be very well remembered, so we can be pacifistic and sarcastic when everybody else is acting exactly the same.

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