[TheBigManSentMe]

the thing though, this paper was smart about it. they never called or supported any kind of violence, they just bashed americans 24/7. so how the hell do we explain to an average iraqi the reason for closing it without looking like hypocritical bastards?

[M. Dodge Thomas]

I expect it's a pragmatic effort, and to some extent an experiment: if the closure puts 100 people in the street, no problem. 1,000, encourging. 10,000: evidence of a significant political problem long term. 100,000... well, at least you tried.

So far, it's in the "significant future problem category", and that's something worth knowing, even if it's pretty unsettling

For the life of me, looking at the European colonial experience in such nations, I don't see a winning strategy for this one - our intentions may be different, but to the local populations they can be made to appear the same.