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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: frankw1900 who wrote (77342)	2/25/2003 11:25:19 AM
From: Win Smith	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

I thought it was interesting too. Skipping to the end, just to summarize: One thing is certain. It's absolutely impossible for anyone who hasn't been to Iraq even to imagine the tremendous frustration, anger, humiliation and terminal desperation caused by 12 years of sanctions. When the United States stops bombing, and if the security apparatus disintegrates, the decomposition of the regime will be beyond brutal. Iraqis are convinced chaos is inevitable. Even with the fall of the regime, there will be violent popular opposition to an invasion. Few may heed a call to arms to defend the regime. But many would not hesitate to force the invader out. Especially because very few in Iraq seem to be convinced that the US wants to invest in a Marshall plan and mold the country into a "beacon of democracy", as well as prosperity, in the Middle East. The fact is, the whole country could be easily engulfed in a bloody mix of civil war and liberation struggle that no Douglas MacArthur and no occupation force will ever be able to control. atimes.com Well, we've had various definitive pronouncements here on what "the Iraqi people" think that don't quite fit with that picture, but nevermind. I would compare and contrast that summary with the "jumble of ideas" in my own little summary on the difficulties of occupation and "nation building", #reply-18594950 . I don't know, but the bland assurances of the war marketing campaign about the beacon of democracy postwar Iraq is going to be and the new domino effect seem quite wishful, and pretty much of a piece with the rest of the marketing plan on the credibility front.