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Politics : Moderate Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (1897)	6/5/2003 1:38:28 PM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20773

It's amazing, the American naivete that a faction-ridden foreign culture with a language and religion and history we barely grasp can be broken down and reassembled like a Leggo set to suit our purposes. Anyone noticed the total lack of Middle East expertise among the leading ideological advocates of the Iraq operation? Any Arab hands who served in the region? Nope. The problem with Washington, it is too much like the rich folks who play Monopoly with real buildings. The Beltway crowd thinks that issuing edicts and spending a lot of money to revamp the rest of the universe is how the world works. Bosnia was an easier nut to crack than Iraq; eight years after the end of the war it is barely functional (dysfunctional is more like it) as a nation-state. Reality sucks sometimes. But hubris never ends. PS Anyone who like the nationbuilding schtick should do some reading on our many interventions in the western hemisphere in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, none of which lead to stable countries that could manage their own affairs to our satisfaction.

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (1897)	6/5/2003 2:03:06 PM
From: Thomas M.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20773

The NY Times, lynchpin of the "liberal" media, providing cover stories for a Republican administration as it plunders Iraqi oil? Fascinating! Tom

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (1897)	6/5/2003 3:12:54 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20773

Friedman seems to have a pretty rational point of view on the state of our affairs. I find a couple of flaws. First, even though I agree that the current existence of WMD is/was a pretty lame excuse to go after Saddam. I don't see how he was in any position to pose immediate threats using this type of weaponry. I also agree that the real threat comes from young frustrated Arabs, and not just Arabs who had been gaining in momentum and in organization. However, I do think that in time Saddam would have rallied his resources and organization in a way that would pose a world threat and with the use of whatever military power he could muster over time. The opportunity presented itself to break that chain of events and Bush acted. I also saw the regime as something different in the way that it bolstered terrorism. I saw Saddam as one of the guys behind the scenes who taps one the dominoes. We see the one's falling about but we never see the guys who are setting them up or giving the nudges.