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

To: Sarmad Y. Hermiz who wrote (129630)	4/20/2004 12:23:16 AM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

The Kurds will have a bleak future in Iraq. having assisted the US in invading Iraq, they will be branded as traitors and will have no role in the governing of Iraq or allocating its resources. Well, while the Sunnis and Shiites are tearing themselves apart in sectarian strife and criminal gangsterism, the Kurds are silently consolidating their position in the north, establishing their economy and exploiting their own resources. The Kurds are Iraqis too. Something which I sense you don't agree with. And if, as you suggest, there is no part for ethnic Kurds to play in an Iraqi government, then there will be serious repercussions. It is a fantasy that Sunni and Shi'aa Moslems have any reason or desire for civil war. there is no ethnic difference between them. they speak the same language with the same accent. Intermingle in the same residential neighborhoods. Work in the same occupations. Wear the same clothes. Hmmm... I remember when people used to make the same arguments about the Bosnians, Croats, Serbs and Kosovars.. Until that little difference called "religion" divided them. And now you'll try and have us believe that there is little difference between Sunnis and Shiites? Really now... Tell that to a Wahhabi or Salafi.. Or try and tell it to some radicalized Shiite militant... However, I believe there will be a lot of blood-shed in Iraq after the US leaves. But it will not be along Sunni/Shi'aa lines. It will be more in the line of nationalists rooting out foreign agents from positions of power. Similar to what happened in VietNam. Interesting... What "foreign agents" will be eliminated? American? French? Russian? Chinese? Saudi? Jordanian? Syrian? Turkish? Iranian?.. Jewish? ___________ (fill in the blank)??? Foreign agents ABOUND in Iraq. Sadr is a paid lacky of Iranian militants. Fallujah has apparently been overrun with Syrian agents/insurgents.. The resulting witch hunt you refer to will be convenient to the next despot who seeks to play groups off one another.. in a divide and conquer strategy.. In fact, it might be the Kurds who come out ahead in all of this... All because you're more worried about foreign influence than in trying to create a viable economic and political state that is accountable to ALL of its citizens. And hasn't that pretty much always been the reason the Muslims have fallen so far behind the "infidel" west.. Hawk

To: Sarmad Y. Hermiz who wrote (129630)	4/20/2004 12:42:31 AM
From: Bilow	Respond to of 281500

Hi Sarmad Y. Hermiz; Thanks for the great post. Re: "They speak the same language with the same accent." It's been my observation that this is the most important thing, as far as figuring out who will end up allied with whom. Like the US and the British, the mother tongue is the tie that binds. Maybe it's because when you translate a lie into a foreign language, it's not as believable. The cultural blindness that lets the lie pass for truth in one language is less likely to prevail in another. -- Carl

To: Sarmad Y. Hermiz who wrote (129630)	4/20/2004 3:56:09 PM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Sarmad, Perhaps so. But Kurds are building facts on the ground in the north. There is a lot of black gold in them thar' sandhills, and a lot of incentive to maintain/gain control of it. Plus of course the Kurd desire for independence. I doubt that they want to have Sistani or any other Arab or Persian cleric trying to run their lives or have ultimate authority over the area they have gotten used to calling their own. Why do you believe that they will be unable to hold any large cities? Even though they are a minority in Iraq as a whole, they are concentrated in certain areas and are becoming more so. And they have their own armies. I can't say I know what percentage of the Kirkuk area is Kurd, but it is my impression that it is larger than than any other single group (please correct me if this is incorrect). However, I believe there will be a lot of blood-shed in Iraq after the US leaves. But it will not be along Sunni/Shi'aa lines. It will be more in the line of nationalists rooting out foreign agents from positions of power. I'm not sure who you are referring to when you say "foreign agents." Are Kurds foreign agents? You appear to suggest this. Are the people who are helping the US nationalists or foreign agents? Or are the people who are resisting the US the foreign agents or the nationalists?