The Cusp

Posted 08:31 GMT
Mangala spoke:

O Americans, O Iraqis! Now come the difficult days. War is easy by contrast with the tasks ahead of you.

America must choose:

Are you liberators come to help then make a speedy return home, before you outstay your welcome? Are you mentors, come to stay for half a year to get things started right before waving farewell as friends? Are you an imperial conquerer, prepared to stay forever to ensure the future goes your way?

Do you seek to mold the hearts of a people, as you did in Japan and Germany? Do you seek to install a corrupt gang, as you did in Vietnam? Do you seek to make Iraq safe for American business, to make it a fast-food bastion? Are you content to leave the Iraqis to work out their destiny, true to their culture and their history?

Iraqis must choose:

Do you welcome democracy, a rarity in Dar al Islam? Do you seek an Iraqi way, different from the rest? Will you split apart in violent struggles for power? Do you seek revenge on the former lords of misrule? Do you seek revenge on your American invaders or liberators?

You must ask, Who governs, and how? You must ask, Are we capable of governing ourselves?

Friends, you are both at the cusp, the decision point from which a thousand and one futures spring. You choose in the dark, but choose you must.