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

To: kumar who wrote (81695)	3/13/2003 2:55:04 AM
From: marcos	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

You don't think that an iraqui conscript might be more inclined to talk with, rather than fire on, a group of foreign invaders that included some from his own religion? .... more than he might be willing to surrender to a single nation widely known for having the largest military and the largest thirst for oil on the planet, which has a religion historically hostile to his own, and which is currently aiding foreign conquerors of yet another religion hostile to his own who continually advance their occupation into the lands of people to whom he is more closely related? ... i do .. and if the goal is genuinely to build a nation out of this place, introduce something like democracy, then you absolutely do not want to make your way in there by shooting all those conscripts, or by a heavy handed military occupation, that won't work, you want to convince them to talk straight away ..... and a coalition of democracies to talk to in place of a single nation, that would help too 'It is not about oil' people say, well of course it is in large part about oil, if only in what a Hussein does with oil money ... 'it is not about religion', well of course it is in large part, there is a long history of religious conflict between various parties in this very tribal area I've posted too much here again, place is a trap ... one last thought - Grateful Dead album American Beauty is mentioned above, it has on it a song called Ripple, wonderful piece, instrumental, my favourite of theirs, i also have it in a live version, concert in Europe ..... the name Ripple, i also thought of this in connection with the big bomb today - the largest non-nuclear explosion in history, over 100 kilotons if memory serves, was in the late fifties here, the government blew up a reef called Ripple Rock, extreme hazard to navigation in Seymour Narrows, i was on the Island at the time and we watched it live on television, which was itself something of a first ... they did it on the weekend so all industry didn't have to shut down to watch Which is apropos of nothing ... except maybe that everything, absolutely everything, is connected to everything else ..... namaste kumar, good night