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

To: Win Smith who wrote (132832)	5/13/2004 1:19:56 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Ah, so your answer to the "drain the swamp" conceptuality question is economic development. Which is fine in principle, but given the total botch of the post-war security situation, extremely problematic in practice. No Win... What was "problematic" was continuing under the delusional belief that such economic development could have occurred under Saddam's regime. Do you really think anyone was going to permit Iraq to become an economic powerhouse, thereby providing Saddam the economic, as well as the military, means to produce his own weapons and heavy industry?? Hardly... And the Iraqi people would have continued to suffer.. And they would have continued to challenge Saddam's powerbase until they either co-opted him to their cause, or replaced him.. And they would have done this because their religious leadership within the Islamic militant movement understand the importance of controlling that oil resource to further their own aims. Economic development in undeveloped countries is difficult in the best of circumstances, at least under the current World Bank / IMF regime. In Iraq, the circumstances are far from the best. They are far better NOW, than they have been in 30 years. But it's just the decision of the Iraqi people which future they want to create for themselves (with our assistance). On the other other hand, there's the historical disdain of conservatives for "social engineering", Well, I'm not particularly keen on it myself.. But given that the alternative is likely a militant takeover of the region, at least on an ideological level, if not outright aggression, I find the alternatives less attractive.. Btw, I also think we're going to be required to do the same thing in Palestine. And that should be a UN effort, combined with many other nations.. But the goal should be to also confront the Islamic Militant factions within the Palestinian state. Hawk