On Sunday 2005-02-20 20:36, d.brin wrote: > 3/ Meanwhile, the big winner in Iraq is the latest target of the > Bush administration's macho rhetoric, Iran: > > When the Bush administration decided to invade Iraq two years ago, it > envisioned a quick handover to handpicked allies in a secular > government that would be the antithesis of Iran's theocracy -- > potentially even a foil to Tehran's regional ambitions. > > But, in one of the greatest ironies of the U.S. intervention, Iraqis > instead went to the polls and elected a government with a strong > religious base -- and very close ties to the Islamic republic next > door. It is the last thing the administration expected from its > costly Iraq policy -- $300 billion and counting, U.S. and regional > analysts say. ... > > Yet the top two winning parties -- which together won more than 70 > percent of the vote and are expected to name Iraq's new prime > minister and president -- are Iran's closest allies in Iraq.
<snip/> > For now, the United States appears prepared to accept the results -- > in large part because it has no choice. > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21679-2005Feb13.html G$300 is actually the cost of trying to execute an Imperial policy on the cheap. The inability to install your own puppet regime is another cost of doing imperialism on the cheap. Iraq will have an Arab Shia majority, in even the BEST case scenario, one could forsee that removing the Baathist regime in Baghdad would remove strategic pressure on Tehran since even a secular regime would have little incentive to tow the American line on Iran but rather to get along with their neighbor. As it stands, it looks like the Iraqi constitutional convention will produce at a minimum some sort of theocracy-light. Furthermore, both the interim parliament and subsequent constitutional administration are likely to be rather friendly toward Tehran and will avoid looking too pro-Anglophone. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
