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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Orcastraiter who wrote (14452)	4/15/2004 12:45:17 PM
From: cnyndwllr	Respond to of 81568

Orcastraiter, I agree with most of what you say. The problem, of course, is that there were tremendous problems inherent in the Iraqi "nation" before we even invaded. There are three ethnic/religious/political factions that were combined in one nation by the British without regard to cultures and ancient hatreds and conflicts. There was a deep problem with fanatical, radical religious movements. Saddam kept a lid on those tensions by ruling with an iron hand. He killed and bullied and intimidated the population into submission. Interestingly, we're killing, bullying and intimidating many of the same groups into submission but not doing it as well. Many are now suggesting that we use harsher tactics, kill more of them, arrest and imprison more of them and get as successful in our efforts as Saddam was in his. That aside, the problem is that we can't just leave and let those conflicts and movements erupt into full bloom. If we do the extent of our failure and the extent of our apathy towards the innocent will undermine our efforts in any subsequent role we attempt to take in world politics. In addition, when you intervene in the affairs of another, you owe a moral obligation to leave that person better off than if you had just butted out. I think, like you, that we ought to let the Iraqis really choose their government and, no matter what their choice is, we ought to facilitate the implementation of that choice. I also believe, however, that we need to protect the rights of the minority Iraqis when we withdraw militarily. That may mean the creation of three nations out of the one that currently exists. We almost need three elections and three outcomes. The Sunnis, the Kurds and the Shi'a should all have some level of protection from the "old testament" justice of the majority. It's a tangled mess we've bought into but it's in our interests and it's morally right that we help untangle it. Of course the thinking of the Bush administration has much less to do with what's right for the Iraqis than it does with what's right for America's interest in controlling Iraqi oil and in controlling the Iraqi's non-terrorist-benefiting use of Iraqi oil revenues.