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 : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Triffin who wrote (40955)	4/26/2004 10:32:24 AM
From: michael97123	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 794243

Hi Jim, Just a wild thought(s) for a moment. Allow the Turks to take over the Kurdish north but with a promise for some autonomy for all the Kurds in both former iraa and Turkey. A grand rapprochement is no more ridiculous an idea than all the others being profferred and both the Kurds and Turks have a democratic connection. Ultimately it would be nice to include kurds in iran and syria in this new kurdistan. Also this gives Turks and Kurds control of the northern oil reserves. Now to the south. We need to take out al sadr for sistanis benefit. A southern shia islamic state, hopefully more moderate than iran but certainly less powerful and wealth, would at least check the Wahabis. The triangle--step away from it. Move troops to safe locations. Let them have their civil war. Who knows, maybe the iraqis will figure out who to defeat and who to give power to. Cant see where the US can play a positive role for whomever we ally with, gets tarred by us. Good Luck Iraq but perhaps its time to reassess american policy and admit that we can win wars but not peace or at least not win the peace when we are undermanned. Mike

To: Triffin who wrote (40955)	4/29/2004 10:02:38 PM
From: Dayuhan	Respond to of 794243

Is preserving a viable Iraq the most desirable outcome ?? That depends on the objective of the exercise, something that is not at all clear at this point. When the war began the objective was to remove Saddam. That’s been accomplished. What’s the objective now? Nobody seems to know. Wars are fought to achieve political objectives. Wars are won when those objectives are achieved. If the objective is unclear or unattainable, the war is likely to be lost even if the military force wins every battle. The problem in my mind is how do you setup representative government to run Baghdad that has any chance to succeed. That will be a very difficult thing to do, especially if you define “success” as the establishment of a stable, effective government that is compatible with American interests. I think it is safe to say that this will not happen. I agree with LB that a strong military will be needed but will the populace accept either the US military or the former Baathists in that role?? Another big problem. It’s easy to say that a strong military is needed, but where do you get the strong military? Even if you bring the Baathers in, it will take many years before the military could be called strong, and if a Baath-led military does gain significant strength, its most likely use of that strength will be in a coup. If you try to integrate the Kurdish and Shiite militias into a national army, you don’t have a national army at all: the loyalty of those soldiers will continue to be toward their old leaders, not to the national government. You need a strong army, but there is no strong army. You need a stable representative government, but there's no way to get that either. The US can provide some semblance of security, but it's a pretty hollow shell. Law and order is a massive problem in Iraq; the police are hopelessly corrupt and the US doesn't want to take over police work because it poses impossible force protection problems. The cost of staying in indefinitely is intolerable, but the cost of pulling out - and watching the country descend into the kind of anarchy that will favor only Islamic radicals - is even higher. This outcome was forseeable, and forseen, from the beginning.