An Open Letter to Mohammed Fadhil

I just came upon this eye-opening article via one of Gateway Pundits's links, which claims that the withdrawal plans by democrats are racist in nature. Highlights:

[...]If I were you Mohammed, I would also wonder why, given the enormous sacrifices America has made on behalf of Europe, we would abandon you when we could massively increase our effort and not come close to the cost of even one year of WWII.

There are several answers, many are almost irrelevant, such as we were lied to, or the occupation has been incompetent, political hatred of Bush, etc. They are irrelevant not only because those objections are about the past rather than what is the best move going forward, but because one would assume that we wouldn’t have abandoned the fight against Hitler just because we decided Roosevelt was a bad President. We pointedly refused to allow Hitler to agree to something other than total and unconditional defeat. So it wasn’t about whether he was any longer a direct threat to the United States. No, we decided the enormous cost of achieving that victory was worth it because we didn’t want him ruling over anybody in Europe. These excuses are only valid to the people making them because they are willing to allow the forces you are struggling against to rule over you.
Others are more on point.
One contention is that Iraq, unlike Germany, Italy and Japan is not ready for democracy. I have some sympathy for that, though the evidence to doubt all three of those powers readiness for democracy was pretty prevalent both before, during and after WWII.
I also am not so sure that Iraq is unready either. I think Iraq is not ready while surrounded by forces from without sending in fighters, and financially supporting those who would resist it. If Iraq were able to deal with its resistance without outside interference it would probably already have conquered its major demons with our help. Germany’s resistance after major military operations were over was thoroughly isolated.
That is of course not a reason to ignore. Reality dictates that however worthy a cause, the costs of that effort have to be weighed, and the inability to restrain outside meddling is certainly a major issue. However, as you have pointed out, the resources to absorb the cost of doing so is well within our reach. So that is not the core issue.
The real reason is we don’t care enough. Why would we value you and your family less? It is a hard thing to say to you, though I have no doubt you know it in your heart. Europe was not only the home of most of our ancestors, the source of the intellectual, philosophical and spiritual traditions which guided us, but it is familiar and comforting to us as well. You, however, are far more culturally, spiritually and historically divorced from us, or at least we believe that to be true. You are the other, Europe is related. I have written of the way we tend to view these things, and it is human nature. Some of us see the gap between our caring for our family, country, and countries we are more familiar with, in descending importance, as smaller than others do. I cannot honestly say I don’t feel to some extent the same way, but the difference isn’t as large as it is for most Americans or Europeans apparently. Iraq was fine when it was thought (foolishly) that it would be quick and easy. Unfortunately Americans are not willing to spend 1/20th of what we would to save Europe in resources, and we are not willing to spend 1/1000th of what we would in casualties, for Iraq. That is the cold hard truth.
I tried to have this conversation with a blogger here in America who is one of the most extreme in her desire for withdrawal. I presented a situation quite analogous to the Middle East, but placed the issue in Europe. In that circumstance she was more than willing to say she would support our involvement. When I pointed out that that was exactly the situation we faced in the Middle East, she abandoned the conversation. She didn’t want to face the implications of it, but we all know it is true.
I will point out I am not immune to this, I would be more willing to defend democracy and take on terror in Europe as well. I acknowledge it, though I cannot justify it except to the extent I do in the post I linked to above. I am also not comfortable with that truth, and it embarrasses me to say it to you, but it is the truth. All I can say is that the difference is not so huge in my case, and for now I am with you. Unfortunately for most Americans the difference is not merely large, it is a chasm. That even goes for many who support our continued presence in Iraq, they don’t care about you, but about how defeat affects us. I do care, a great deal, but I understand, due to my own prejudices on this, exactly where most of my countrymen are coming from, even if I care far more than they. I am sure you actually know this as well, I am sure that even the most progressive of Iraqi’s recognize this type of prejudice amongst themselves.
I wish you the best, and you have my support,
Lance

Thoughts?