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

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (127969)	3/31/2004 3:59:14 PM
From: redfish	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I read Graham Greene's "The Quiet American" last night, really good book. Deals with Vietnam when it was still primarily France's problem.

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (127969)	3/31/2004 4:03:16 PM
From: GST	Respond to of 281500

<Shut up, he explained Originally published March 31, 2004 WITH TERRORISTS striking in Uzbekistan and evidently preparing to strike in England, the United States is still preoccupied with the mess in Iraq. Someone else is going to have to fight terror for the time being, because Americans are busy fighting themselves over who said what, when. In Iraq itself, the American idealists are trying to figure out how to impress upon the ungrateful citizens the glories of a democratic system, up to but not including free speech. Sending in soldiers to padlock the front gates of the newspaper Al Hawza, as chief U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer III did Sunday, suggests that the American occupiers have little faith in their own powers of persuasion, and aren't bothering to be subtle about it. When, in contrast, the White House wanted to silence Paul H. O'Neill, the former treasury secretary, it resorted to vague threats of criminal prosecution. When it wanted to silence Richard A. Clarke, the former chief of counterterrorism, it launched a smear campaign. But in Baghdad, Mr. Bremer just sends in the Army - with chains and guns. baltimoresun.com

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (127969)	3/31/2004 4:21:31 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Clearly, the "crowds of cheering Iraqis" have no fear, that our soldiers can find them. They didn't mind being filmed, or even giving their names to the reporters. They would only have that confidence, if they were totally certain nobody would identify them, nobody would give Intel to the occupation troops or the Iraqi police. That U.S. General is simply being realistic. He doesn't have the troops, or the Intel, to do as you propose, and he knows it. He knows it is politically impossible to restart the draft, and also politically impossible to wage war directly on the civilian population that supports the guerrillas. He's tried now, for a year, to pacify the country, and it hasn't worked. He knows he is losing this war.

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (127969)	3/31/2004 5:36:15 PM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi Hawkmoon; Re: "I was disappointed by the reaction of a US general who seemed hesitant to discuss plans for retaliation." It's a hopeless situation. You're sitting back there all smug in your chair, supposedly with all the answers. But your answers don't work in the real world. Which reminds me, seen any sign that the UN is going to take over for us come July? I haven't. Re: "This is just utterly disgusting and goes far beyond mere resistance. It's desecration of the dead." Maybe we should have thought of this before we violated Moslem customs by making a dog and pony show out of the Saddam's sons (and that 14-year-old boy who was with them). Imagine how the concept of applying make-up to old refrigerated corpses goes over with a foreign people who have a custom of planting them with no alteration other than cleaning, and always before nightfall. Re: "These people might constitute a minority in Fallujah, as this general claimed ..." This is fantasy thinking. We barely have majority support in Iraq as a whole. In the regions that are aligned against us, the support for resistance is extremely high. Re: "Boots on the ground are required." Cool! When are you going? Who ya gonna send now that we're stretchted so tight? The Spaniards? Re: "And make that town secure enough that any moderate residents feel safe enough to inform on those who carried out, as well as approved of, this gruesome attack and mutilation." Is your idea to "out gruesome" the resistance? If so, I'd say that you're volunteering for quite a pig wrestle. If not, I'd say that you're rather unrealistic about the ability we have to make the Iwaqis wuv us. -- Carl

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (127969)	3/31/2004 6:48:28 PM
From: Rascal	Respond to of 281500

This is just utterly disgusting and goes far beyond mere resistance. It's desecration of the dead. Somebody in Iraq said the same thing at the death of Saddam's sons. Reward cooperation, punish bad behavior (and especially desecration of the dead)... And make that town secure enough that any moderate residents feel safe enough to inform on those who carried out, as well as approved of, this gruesome attack and mutilation. At the time of the death of Saddam's sons I heard that some in Iraq made a plan to: Reward cooperation, punish bad behavior (and especially desecration of the dead)... And make Falujah secure enough that any moderate residents feel safe enough to inform on those who carried out, as well as approved of, this gruesome attack and mutilation. Rascal @AllWarsAreCrimes.com