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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
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To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (117213)10/19/2003 1:39:42 PM
From: KyrosL  Read Replies (1) of 281500
 
Iraq compared to Japan

1) The Iraqi population is armed to the teeth -- heck we don't even have enough soldiers to guard huge ammunition dumps sprinkled all over the country. In Japan to only people with guns were American soldiers.

2) In Iraq the Iraqi army survived the war practically intact -- they just shed their uniforms and carried their AK-47s and grenade launchers home. In Japan the army was thoroughly destroyed.

3) In Iraq we already have a rise of armed local militias with dubious loyalties. They practically control the cities and towns in Shiite and Kurdish areas. Did you notice what happened in Karbala the other day -- supposedly a "safe" shiite town? Nothing of the sort happened in Japan. To begin with, there were no guns, like I said before.

4) Japan was surrounded by sea, and beyond the sea were peoples that thoroughly despised the Japanese. Iraq is surrounded by thousands of miles of porous borders and peoples sympathetic to "Iraq vs the US" ideas, many of whom are willing to infiltrate and die for those ideas.

5) There were plenty of GIs to enforce the peace in Japan. There are not enough in Iraq to even guard ammunition dumps where looters can cart off at will anything from plastic explosives to brand new missiles. Heck, we were not even able to muster enough forces to guard nuclear material storage sites. If the Shiite militias decide to revolt, I am afraid of an outcome similar to Saigon, 1975 -- unless, of course, we decide to nuke 'em.

6) The only Iraqi authority, the Governing Council, evidently agrees with the State Department plan.
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