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 : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SilentZ who wrote (192696)	6/30/2004 10:18:40 PM
From: Joe NYC	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1577030

Z, Remember, Saddam was closer to the rule than the exception in the Middle East. No, he was the worst. Only Palestinian Authority and Taliban are close, IMO. I'm not all that optimistic that we'll end up with any sort of consistent organized government in place in the long run, but if we do, I think it's much more likely to be a dictatorship than a democracy, and a successful dictator in a hodgepodge of ethnicities like Iraq is probably going to be pretty darned murderous. I think it is a little condescending to say that. It has been said about many countries that they are not ready for democracy, that there is no democratic tradition. Well, start one! Europe is now all democratic, with some problematic areas such as Ukraine, Belarus, even Russia, but it is a long way from where it was 20 years ago. The start is to overthrow the dictatorship, and then let things work out themselves. In many cases the do. THe multi-ethnic nature of Iraq is a big problem. Maybe partition will happen. It happened in Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, with very successful results. Why not Iraq? I hope the idiots in the State Department will stay out of it, if Iraqis decide to split the country. Nationalistic conflict inside multinational countries can be paralyzing... While the medicine of splitting the country can be bitter in the short run (with displaced people), in the long run it works, IMO. It was pretty unsettling a couple of days ago to hear the new Iraqi security minister saying that they'd be bringing security to the country once the Americans left because their values don't hold human rights in the same regard -- that's creepy. Not at all. There are million rules that US combat units need to follow that makes them much less effective. It calls for very different rules to combat suicide bombers. I know about that story -- why do you think Iraq will be any easier to manage? No, it will be harder. But it is worth trying. You don't succeed without trying. I just have a hard time trusting the guys who gave us the expectation that this would be a cakewalk to dig us out of this mess. Long term solution is not the US (or our allies) policing streets of Iraq, but for Iraq to have a security force that can stabilize the country. I wish we had done a better job at preparing Iraqis to take over. Joe