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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bentway who wrote (51460)	4/5/2006 3:22:50 PM
From: ChanceIs	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 306849

>>>Preemptively invading Iraq, a country that had not attacked us, destabilized the region and our occupation there, threatening Iran continues to do so.<<< In hindsight, I think that we were better off (more stable) maintaining "containment" with respect to Saddam and the "no-fly" zones. Saddam was major league bad news, having started two wars, both of which put oil through the roof. I think that it is clear that if we hadn't supported Saddam after he invaded Iran circa 1979-1980, that the Iranian counterattack would have succeeded in overrunning Iraq, leaving the whole region under Iranian control. I suppose that Iraq today is a mere shadow of its former military self, and Iran has had 25 years to heal militarily and financially. They test new weapons daily. I think that if we puled out of there today, that Iran could easily overrun the place, and probably would. Of course our invasion jacked up the "terror premium" in crude oil. Of course we are paying twice for the war, once directly for bullets, and again through the higher price of crude. Furthermore we are funding our enemies through the high price of crude - so maybe we pay three times over. I agree the situation is bad. I think that the area is more stable with us there than if we pulled out. I think that if we left tomorrow, crude would go to $80. Iran is playing the situation like a fiddle. Its horrible. I don't know the answer. It might be best if India and China sent in large numbers of troops to really quiet things down, and spread the military costs around. I doubt that we want that. Yes, I wish that we hadn't gone into Iraq. I expected better results. The WMD matter is not an issue to me. We had not planned well for the downside - namely what would happen if we weren't welcomed with open arms. We weren't, and Iraq is not healing itself. That is too bad. There is only the future. What do we do now?? The US made a nuclear weapon with stone tools and bear skins in about five years in the early 1940s. Somebody predicted that the Iranians could make a bomb in five years. I think that it would only take about two years. There is just so much knowledge available.