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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (747647)	8/15/2006 3:01:25 PM
From: Neeka	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 769670

I just don't understand why the left doesn't support the one country on Earth that is the one bastion standing between freedom and tyranny?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (747647)	8/15/2006 3:51:01 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

It would be foolish to ignore the religious and ethnic and national differences that divide Islam... or to ignore that the civil war ALREADY rages (as fast as it can... with the US standing in the middle, and trying to tamp-down the fighting on BOTH sides) in Iraq --- and will most likely proceed apace as soon as we get out of the middle of the warring lines. How could you be blind to what should be as plain as the nose on your face? The Sunni/Shiite schism is DEEP and unsettled. Add to that the conflicting national aspirations of the (majority Sunni, but fearing their downtrodden Shiite minority populations) Gulf States, backed by much of the Islamic world --- vs. the Shiite nations of Iran and (majority) Iraq... with significant minorities in oil producing regions elsewhere, and in Lebanon. To the Sunnis, Christians and Jews are still 'people of the Book' (sharing the Old Testiment in common), while Shiites are APOSTATES, rejectors of the True Faith, and destined for Hell. Add to that the Arab concerns about Persians, and the fact that various proxies are already lined up on one side or the other (al Qaeda backing the Sunnis, and killing all the Shiites it possibly can in Iraq), Badr Brigates, and numerous other militias (Shi'a) killing Sunnis in Iraq, and engaging in ethnic cleansing to drive them out of their homes... Hamas: Sunni. Hezbollah: Shiite. etc. The Saudi's and Egypt have ALREADY expressed their fears of Iran's expanding sphere of influence in Iraq and the region (& have much to fear from their own downtrodden Shiite minorities, who mostly inhabit the oil producing regions on the Gulf...), and are ALREADY FUNDING the Sunni insurgency in Iraq (while Iran signed a defense treaty with the Shi'a dominated government, etc.) Who can doubt that an enlargement of the civil war will suck in BOTH Iran and the Sunni dominant Arabian and Gulf States? after all: the largest BLOODLETTING in modern times in the region was the decade long Iran/Iraq Gulf War (which killed at least a million people), fought by Saddam's Sunni government against the Shi'a Persians.... How can you miss the MAIN CHANCE so much? The only 'naive' thinking that I see going on is from those who believe that 'staying our present course' has BETTER ODDS of achieving long-term Western strategic goals then in extricating ourselves from the middle of their internecine conflict (foolishly letting both sides use Uncle Sucker as an EXCUSE for all their problems...), and allowing the locals to proceed with fighting each other to settle their regional (&, ultimately, their religious) differences. After all... the WEST long ago had the kind of clarifying inter-religious series of wars (between Catholicism and Protestantism) that ultimately resulted in a military stalemate... but also DISCREDITED the extremists on BOTH SIDES so suffiently that the Reformation emerged, followed by the Enlightenment: the foundational political development for Western freedoms, Democracy, and religious toleration. I don't see how people can be so blind as to stick with a losing hand... when the winning cards are clear to see.