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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (755)	1/27/2001 11:46:02 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 23908

Actually, it is good news if Saddam doesn't attempt to do something at the last minute to "preserve his legacy"... Personally, I think it's too late for him to stir up too much trouble. And upon his death, there will be too much consolidation of power by his son against any rival factions. But it does offer a bit of hope as well. A new regime can more readily shift its stance with regard to the outside world, not bound by the baggage of the previous regime, even if that new regime is related to the old. Iraq, unfortunately, is not an easy situation to unravel. There were good reasons not to occupy Baghdad during the gulf war, predominant among them, the lack of support among the coalition partners for an occupation of Iraq. Many surrounding nations have various claims on Iraqi territory and their people. The Turks have been engaged in a constant battle against the PKK who take refuge in N. Iraq, the Iranians fight against the Mujadhedin in E. Iraq, and they share the Shia' religion with southern Iraqis, where certain religious sites holy to shi'ism are located. The entire nation, like many former British mid-east colonies, is essentially an artificial country defined by arbitrary borders. And some theorize that with a diverse and conflicted population, without authoritarian rule it would cease to exist as a nation and immediately fall prey to civil war. Btw, it seems pretty much determined which of Hussein's sons will rule the country already: iraqfoundation.org Qusay has already consolidated much of the Republican Guard and secret police under his command. Uday, who was severely wounded in an assasination attempt really how been relegated to a minor role. But Uday is just a brutal as his father, and apparently as spoiled: iraqfoundation.org So it will be interesting to see if Bush opts to support the Iraqi opposition in a manner that Clinton never was willing. Without such support, few of the calmer heads will be willing to literally stick their necks out to oppose Uday. We've already screwed the opposition over once in 1996. Another thought is that the Saudi really don't want any form of Arab democracy in Iraq, so expect one to come forth. The only true democracy in the entire mid-east is Israel, which is one of the reasons the Arab power brokers despise it, aside from being Jewish. The Jews set a bad political example for their retaining power. Regards, Ron