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

To: LindyBill who wrote (92022)	4/10/2003 6:24:38 PM
From: michael97123	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

LB, Bob Arnot just reported on msnbc re: looting. He said it was selective. Business and government agencies that were connected to the regime were targets. Small local business were being left alone. That is an important distinction to make. Mosul surrender imminent without a shot fired. Hopefully will happen. Gotta go. mike

To: LindyBill who wrote (92022)	4/10/2003 6:31:05 PM
From: KyrosL	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Just let them alone to build their country That's exactly what we did after the Soviets got thrown out: we left them alone. Obviously, it did not work. What makes you think it will work now, especially when our friends in Kabul are saying it's not working? We need to spend a minimum of $20 billion to allow the central government to establish an army, start infrastructure projects, and win the people away from the warlords. $20 billion is a tenth of what the Iraq operation will cost, and a twentieth of what Sept 11 and its aftermath cost -- not counting the lives. Kyros

To: LindyBill who wrote (92022)	4/10/2003 10:26:25 PM
From: Dennis O'Bell	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I get so tired of this attitude. The only people who can "save" Afghanistan are the Afghans. We cleaned out the oppressors. I think many people underestimate the hidden costs of "keeping order" even in a democratic country like the USA, let alone a disaster like Afghanistan, or to cite another example, South Africa around the Townships. I think the latest statistics are that 1 person in 142 or something is in prison here in the US. Part of this is because we misuse prisons for a kind of polyvalent function, many people probably don't really belong in the general prison population, but at any rate they're there. I actually witnessed an armed robbery around a month ago (I was having lunch and saw the commotion at the Cumberland Farms convenience store across the street from my window seat in a restaurant.) At first it wasn't clear to any of us what was going on, but within minutes you should have seen the patrol cars, State police, and there was even a police helicopter, they managed to apprehend the idiot(s) within a half hour. That's here in the civilized Peoples Republic of Massachusetts. Not a country like Afghanistan. People should just keep this kind of thing in perspective when talking about how easy it is to restore order in some of these countries. Iraq is not Afghanistan in any case, there are problems unique to the country and I wouldn't generalize overly on what to expect.