Re: Fallujah: Marine Eye-Witness Report
At 10:02 PM 11/23/2004, James A. Donald wrote: And the problem with a civil war in Iraq is? Well, once you get past the invalid and dishonest parts of Bush's 57 reasons We Need to Invade Iraq Right Now (WMDs, Al-Qaeda, Tried to kill Bush's Daddy, etc.) you're pretty much left with Saddam tried to kill Bush's Daddy and Replacing the EEEVil dictator Saddam with a Democracy to protect the Iraqi people. Pulling off the latter requires that you leave them with something better than a civil war, though it's not clear that what they're getting right now _is_ better than a civil war.
Re: Fallujah: Marine Eye-Witness Report
James A Donald wrote... And the problem with a civil war in Iraq is? And the answer is: 9/11 sucked. Oh wait, I guess I have to explain that. After the Soviets were pushed out of Afghanistan the place became a veritable breeding ground for all sorts of virulent strains of Islam, warlords, and so on. Iraq would likely denigrate into the same, eventually launching similarly nice little activities. -TD
Re: Fallujah: Marine Eye-Witness Report
From: James A. Donald [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Nov 24, 2004 1:02 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Fallujah: Marine Eye-Witness Report .. And the problem with a civil war in Iraq is? At least three: a. The pottery barn theory of foreign affairs--we'd be blamed for making things worse. (I don't know how much this matters long term, but it would certainly have made life pretty hard on Tony Blair and the rest of the world leaders who actually supported us.) b. We would one day like their oil back on the market. c. We would like to make sure that the next regime to come to power there isn't someone we also feel obligated to get rid of, as even invasions done on the cheap cost a lot of money. --digsig James A. Donald --John
Re: Fallujah: Marine Eye-Witness Report
At 1:05 PM -0500 11/24/04, John Kelsey wrote: effective guerrilla warfare against US troops. Uh, huh...Just for fun, see the title of this thread. ;-) Cheers, RAH -- - R. A. Hettinga mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/ 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA ... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience. -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
