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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (64099)	2/17/2008 4:38:45 PM
From: Jim S	Respond to of 90947

Sad story, tej, what do you think we should do about it? Should we continue to at least try to make things better there, or should we just leave and ignore the bloodbath that will result?

To: tejek who wrote (64099)	2/17/2008 11:01:26 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 90947

Is the US really bringing stability to Baghdad? Yes. Or more accurately we are working with together with Iraqis to make Iraq and Baghdad more stable. Its not like its a purely American project. The changes are more notable in Anbar province (which used to be the worst place in Iraq) than in Baghdad, but Baghdad has also improved. But any true assessment of the happiness or misery of Iraqis must use a less crude index than the number of dead and injured. It must ask if people have been driven from their houses, and if they can return. It must say whether they have a job and, if they do not, whether they stand a chance of getting one. It has to explain why so few of the 3.2 million people who are refugees in Syria and Jordan, or inside Iraq, are coming back. Those are all things to consider. But you can't say "there are problems in this area so stability isn't being bought to Iraq. There where problems in those areas, and in some ways some of them are getting better. Also however "crude" you may consider the number of dead and injured, improvements in that area have occurred and are very important. People aren't going to want to come home or set up businesses that create jobs if you have massive violence. Bring the violence down and the other factors start to improve.