Hi Hawkmoon; Re: "Syria had a fundamentalist uprising and killed upwards of 30,000 people in quashing it."
If we invade Syria, there will be another fundamentalist uprising, but since we're civilized (and Assad is not), we will be unsuccessful in quashing it.
So if you want the Islamic Fundamentalists to take over in ANOTHER Middle East country (other than Iraq which is already well on the road), go ahead and kick over the useful government of Syria.
Bush's problem was not having a plan for after the war. Figuring out what to do about the fundamentalist uprising was one of the things that Bush should have figured out before the invasion.
I've said as much before:
Bilow, September 11, 2002
Our real problem with urban combat could come from the Islamic Fundamentalists in Iraq, not from Saddam's Baathist party. It's the Islamic Fundamentalists that we would be trying to keep out of power after our invasion, and it would be the Islamic Fundamentalists that would be shooting at us. #reply-17979870
Bilow, September 24, 2002
The situation has not significantly changed since then. Our real enemies, in the "war against terror" (which should more realistically be prosecuted as the "war against anti-American terror"), is still the Islamic fundamentalists, and we shouldn't complain too loudly when Saddam represses them in the south part of Iraq. Our real enemy is not Iraq, but is Iran, and by keeping Iraq down we are unnecessarily improving the situation of Iran and providing breeding grounds for terrorists in the regions of Iraq that Saddam's forces are kept out of. #reply-18037196
Bilow, October 4, 2002
It's not like the Islamic Fundamentalists don't have operations in Iraq already. It's fairly obvious that the Iraqi people would flock to those groups to organize guerilla operations against us. Body bags. #reply-18076184
Bilow, February 2, 2003
The problem with comparing Communist terrorists with Islamic Fundamentalist terrorists is that Islam is a religion, and therefore considerably more durable. The self-collapse of the Soviet Union proved that Communism was a false hope. Unfortunately, the history of religion shows that Islam is considerably more durable. Simply conquering various Islamic nations won't make the religion go away. If anything, the all too human tendency to become more religious in the face of adversity will have the opposite influence. Nor does Iraq (unlike Saudi Arabia and various of our allies) have anything to do with terrorism in the US. #reply-18524604
-- Carl |
