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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 2MAR$ who wrote (79467)	9/11/2011 8:55:53 AM
From: Hawkmoon	1 Recommendation Respond to of 217830

Read the caveat contained within MAS's statement: I am obliged to halt military operations of the honest Iraqi resistance until the withdrawal of the occupation forces is complete," He's an agent of Iran now.. Has been for years, IMO. Since he's Shiite, his political support base is that of both the Iranians and Shia Arabs. So when US troops are gone, he's basically advertising that he will take up the struggle again. And I think now that we're seeing Iran's influence within Syria wane, they will concentrate on trying to control Iraq through him. MAS is not a total puppet of Iran, but without their support, his efforts to gain control over Najaf and Karbala, the traditional center of Shi'ism, will be unsuccessful. As for whether it's all been worth it.. IMO, we didn't have any choice if we were going to preserve the UN as an institution. Permitting Saddam to flaunt the directives and authority of the UN would have set a terrible precedent that would have been exploited by other dictators. Our true culpabiliy comes from not having ousted Saddam in 1991, and then compounding the problem by humiliating the Iraqi army, and Sunni tribal chieftains, once we did actually oust him in 2003. But I think that ANY effort we make that permits the people of a nation to have accountable government and democratic reform is worth it over the long term. I hardly believe it would be any better just permitting despots like Saddam to thumb their nose at the International rule of law and invade neighboring countries. That would only enboldened them, as it did when we ignored Hitler's ambitions. Any effort we make that prevents Arab/Islamic children from growing up indoctrinated to kill our non-Muslim children is a sound investment, IMO. We certainly can no longer "kick the can down the road" any longer when it comes to providing political and economic empowerment to the Muslim world. But it's going to be messy and there is still a possibility that it will result in conflict. Democratic reform doesn't mean that the people will make the right choice. They may, like in Gaza, vote for a despotic party that then revokes their democratic rights and prevent any further political opposition. Hawk