Posted on 08/07/2007 5:32:22 AM PDT by bobsunshine
I actually view giving up on empire as an option. But it would be a very large change in direction.. and we can already see as America is tied down, guys like Chavez and Amedinejad rising to power, and weilding it.
5 years ago I don’t think a Chavez like guy anywhere in the world would have the guts to seize Exxon’s oil fields.
Chavez type guys were seizing old fields all the time until the late 1970s until privatization became popular in the wake of Thatcher. Now, privatization, precisely because it is associated with cynical empire, the IMF, etc. is no longer popular.
Who knows? There are always risks but the current policy is getting us nowhere fast. People had the same dire predictions about Vietnam back in 1975. Now, they are moving to a market economy and we are trading with them....so don't be so sure that your answer is a slam dunk. What is your alternative?
So your solution is let them kill each other. That is an option being weighed, I am certain.
All scenarios are played in War Games. I am not saying it has been played, but I would be surprised if it hasn’t. All contingencies are attempted to be planned for. Sometimes the outcome is in doubt even after a War Game play. Maybe this one is, maybe it is not. Truth is, I have no idea. I am not in a position to know. Mine is only an opinion. I am not qualified, to answer your question.
Just typical Arab Muslim behavior. No one with a brain has ever expected them to act otherwise. They are born and raised to be killers. If foreigners aren’t around they kill each other.
I am not automatically assuming that the Iraqis will just kill each other (as they are right now) It is equally possible that if they have to get off their duffs and build a country, they will form a successful coalition. Interestingly, even Sadr supports a unified Iraq and has made overtures to the Sunnis. Nothing is certain, of course, but then that is equally true of the status quo.
I’m not going down that road. My only point was to point out that there was an insurgency after a military victory and it’s not unique to Iraqis. If you want to justify the killing of Republican politicians, lynchings, unlawful takeovers of public buildings and the rise of the KKK as somehow justified you can carry that debate on with someone else. My point was to point out that these things frequently do and did happen in the struggle between local and federal control and it’s not just the Iraqis that are facing these challenges.
“Your view of history is clearly coming from the North. Southerners that put up with Carpetbaggers and Federal vengeance on our people have a different view.”
Hear, hear!
Hey, I know this doesn’t have anything to do with this article but does anyone remember what happened to “Baghdad Bob”?
We can never accept that as an excuse for leaving.
1. It really would tarnish our image forever - and contradict everything our leaders and those making our case have said.
2. It would be a disaster too easy for terrorists to exploit - i.e. we all know how al qaeda took hold in afghanistan
3. Why not have more faith in humanity.
Yes I know plenty of freepers see muslims as the scum of the earth but the facts are those engaged in terrorism are such an extreme minority of the iraqi politician. They are humans just like us and more often than not, they want the same sort of things and satisfication in life. We should never turn our backs on but one person deprived of that freedom, let alone tens of millions.
I believe so strongly we can finish this, leave proud and have the mission remembered as a success for which so many millions of iraqis will admire us for generations to come.
And what was the difference between that situation and this one? We still handled it ourselves, without a foreign military pouring gobs of money and thousands of lives into the solution. We had an internal problem, and we fixed it internally. The hajis have no such compunction. They are very happy letting us do the work for them.
Of course it’s easy to find differences. I’m sure glad the French helped us with gobs of money and military in 18th century though. Yeah there were some differences there too.
Losing’s a bitch - let’s not do it again. :-)
Probably not.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.