All of this goes hand-in-hand with George W. being a uniter. Already, W. has succeeded in uniting that most fractious of all groups in the U.S., the Democrats, to unprecedented levels. Combine that with the Sunnis in the Sunni Triangle and Shias in the South of Iraq now working together. There actually were blood drives among Shias to aid their wounded comrades in Falujah.
The betting line is that the June 30 "hand-off" will go to Ahmad Chalabi, erstwhile convicted bank swindler (Jordan) and darling of the neocons. This would be amazing, especially since W. has been promising 'democracy' to Iraq. Of course, you could hardly have a real democracy based on a plebiscite in Iraq, especially with 65% of the population being Shias. Who knows what ascendant Shias would do in Iraq, have the temerity to vote us out?
Should Chalabi be appointed on June 30 to take over Iraq, we haven't begun to see the blood and treasure that will have to be spent suppressing rebellion. If so, I would change my analogy that Iraq is either like Vietnam ('60-75) or Algeria ('60's) to Afghanistan ('80's), with us playing the role of the Soviets.
are a bunch of liars. The only reason we're in Iraq is because of his Daddy (who kicked SH's ass before).
So, now that we're there and Saddam ain't, what should we do?
See, I wanna pull out cuz GWB is a liar but what I can't get outta my mind is Mom and Pop Lunchbucket Iraq. He's the guy who lived in fear all these years of the knock on the door that this time it would be HIS head being used as a soccerball in Saddam Stadium, or maybe his kids...Or of being executed for having a TV.
He's the guy who's gonna continue to live in squalor and fear still more when we leave and the power vacuum is switched on and the REAL killing begins.
I remember Rawanda...I remember the rivers turned red by blood and the bodies, too many to count. 1/2 million some say. Good thing we had the first black president then...We should stay out of civil wars except our own IMO.
Hell, Iraquis have a tradition of peaceful handoffs of power, don't they? Do they have chads in Iraq?
I wish all things in life were this easy..
Good post, BK.
Each day, the news informs us us of new horrors in Iraq. Although I was just a young kid in the early 70's, I thought that Vietnam and Watergate were supposed to have taught us that our government lies, and that we should be skeptical of its claims. I guess Pete was wrong when he wrote, and Roger sang, "we won't get fooled again."
-- Modified on 4/9/2004 3:48:09 PM