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

To: Sam who wrote (237507)	7/23/2007 1:06:25 PM
From: cnyndwllr	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Thanks for posting that Sam. It really does cut right through the simplistic conclusions and platitudes of the faithful. Of course it's not likely that they'll read it. g. Ed

To: Sam who wrote (237507)	7/23/2007 4:48:43 PM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

An excellent post Sam! It did not have to be this way, but it is what it is now. Very early in the war I mentioned that the best solution was a confederation of 3 regions with Baghdad as a neutral seat of the central government (akin to DC). The Shia's and Kurds would make money off the new oil developments and the Sunnis could be made happy through transit charges of oil pipelines through their territory to the Mediterranean Sea (via Jordan for example). I have issues with some portions of the article, but they are not major ones. For example, hundreds of Saudis have been arrested in Iraq, so it is more than just money that they export to the insurgents. Also, the Shia relation with Iran is fragile. Last year for example the Iraqi Shia in Basra stormed the Iranian consulate and there have been several very tense situations along the same lines. Muqtada al-Sadr started out as being very anti-Iran. Ironically, his position vis-à-vis Iran has been highly moderated because the extreme anti-Iranian factions have mostly splintered off on their own. Anyway, it was a very good article and you may want to present it to some of the conservative threads, blind to its message as they will remain. ST

To: Sam who wrote (237507)	7/24/2007 10:33:29 AM
From: michael97123	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Thanks Sam. A lot of folks now use the expression "it is what it is". I think that saying applies to the Galbraith article. Its funny is a sense that though we have been defeated given what our original goals were, we still have a chance to walk away with a free kurdistan and an iraqi shiaa religous state that does not have to be a protectorate of iran. That new shiaa state i think would want to offset iranian influence/dominance with relationships with europe and the US. As for the sunni areas, i cant predict.