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

To: unclewest who wrote (43018)	5/11/2004 1:05:12 AM
From: Dayuhan	Respond to of 793608

Everyone I know clearly understands the objectives of removing Saddam from power and providing a stable, democratic environment for a long oppressed and terribly abused people. The first of those objectives has already been achieved, the second is probably not within our power to achieve. All the kings horses and all the kings men cannot create a stable democracy in Iraq. Only the Iraqis can do that, and they have some issues they need to resolve before the process can even start. I suspect that no matter what we do, it's going to be good long while before anything resembling a stable democracy is in place, and there's likely to be some major discomfort between now and then. A war without a clear, achievable objective is in trouble. We're already starting to hear people say that we may not be able to get a free Iraq, but that it would be ok to settle for an Iraq that is no threat to the US. This is the old "install Friendly Dictator, pull out, and resort to protests of innocence when FD is dangling from a lamppost and the mobs are burning American flags" routine. Been there, done that, doesn't work. If we want to create a haven for AQ, this is the way to do it. The options don't look terribly attractive. I noticed before the war that the challenge of installing a functional government in Iraq was being widely and wildly underestimated. I remember writing posts on the subject, and being generally dismissed as a reflexive worrier paralyzed by negativity. If anyone cares to listen now, my guess is that this is just the beginning, and that things are going to get a good deal worse before they get better.