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

To: michael97123 who wrote (168797)	8/12/2005 10:56:32 AM
From: el_gaviero	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Thanks for a temperate response. I admit that I do tend towards vitriol. You ask what we should do? I think that when it comes to Iraq, America is ESSENTIALLY IRRELEVANT. By “essentially irrelevant” I mean that we have very little power to shape outcomes in that part of the world at a price that we are willing to pay. We could of course bend Mesopotemia to our will, but would have to use the methods of William the Conqueror. (After winning the battle at Hastings he also had an insurgency problem, solved in the only way possible: upon reaching a Saxon village, he killed everybody in sight and burned down what was left. After a while the only insurgents around were in Scotland and Wales.) We’re not going to follow the example of William. The reason why is because Iraq is not vital for us. As Sun Tzu so cogently argued, Iraq is simply another political operation serving the interest of three powerful sub-coalitions: 1: Jews/neocons/Israel; 2: Pentagon/ Big (well connected inside the beltway) Contractors; 3: Christian millenarians. This coalition was powerful enough to set in motion the great, slow moving, inefficient wheel of government. But the premise of the operation is false. We cannot subordinate our interest in a serious way to those of another country (Israel), or let the tail of the Pentagon/Defense Establishment wag the dog of the country. When the real costs of the operation begin to bite, a counter coalition is going to emerge, more solidly grounded in our interests. This counter coalition is going to reverse the great, slow-moving wheel of government with respect to Iraq, and get us out of there. Since this is going to happen sooner or later, why not let it happen sooner, and save some lives, limbs, and money?