Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: JohnM who wrote (114814)	9/14/2003 7:48:48 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Iraq might be able to avoid a civil war if they unite against the US- which might not be good for the US, but might be better for Iraq. Partition, at least if one takes India as an example, can be truly horrible. I would rather see Iraq united against us, then to see Iraq sucked in to partition. Unfortunately, I think to avoid partition they will have to have a very strong central government, repressive even- which won't be good for "freedom and democracy" but the chances of that in Iraq were never very good (like near 0), imo. Can't remember who said this: that the model for government in the ME was a strong dictator, an impotent parliament (or analogous organ), and a vicious and effective police force. I'd say that is what we will get in Iraq if we are lucky.

To: JohnM who wrote (114814)	9/14/2003 8:38:29 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

That's about right. I doubt Villepin even expects his proposal to be taken seriously By the time the NeoCons get around to offering their latest fallback position, it's too late. If, before the war, they had negotiated what the French are offering today, it might have worked. If they had never disbanded the Iraqi army, simply reflagged those units as they surrendered, and immediately handed internal security over to them, it might have worked. If they had, before the war, lined up occupation troops from Arabic-speaking nations, it might have worked. Unilateralism is being grudgingly abandoned, but too late, too little. They are way behind the curve. The sheer idiocy of having non-Arabic-speaking soldiers manning roadblocks in Iraq. Of course this is going to lead to misunderstandings, which will regularly kill the wrong people. Predictable and obvious. Meanwhile, every adult male in the country has a rifle, and military training. And we can't or won't get any of them to man roadblocks for us. I could be wrong. Perhaps the Control Freaks in Washington will show some flexibility, and persuade the French to join our adventure. But it looks more like nobody, not the Indians or Pakistanis or French, is going to leap aboard the sinking NeoCon ship. Probably the French are just stringing us along, saying "no" by setting conditions they know will be rejected, just like Turkey did before Operation Iraqi Freedom-Not.