I was reading this artical this morning and it got me wondering about something.This isnt an Iraq war bashing post and has nothing to do with the our invasion of them so dont take it wrong.
But awhile back it seemed like I recalled them talking about sending our troops home sometime in the not to distant future.Yet it doesnt sound like Iraq with its different little factions is even capable of arranging a talk among them all much less operating a democratic form of government among them.Between the kurds, sunnis, and shiites, little efforts being made to find common ground to run a government from.And what little effort is going into it is being overshadowed by escalating violence.
Meantime in July 3500 Iraqis were killed violently and 2625 explosive devices, most of which targeted US troops were blown up or discovered.With all the violence over there the new politicians are more worried about being killed then they are getting anyhing accomplished.
So my question is this, how do you see this coming out?Theyre trying to pull groups of people together that have hated each other forever.Theres a large extremist element holding up the process with daily violence.Innocent people are being killed daily and its got to be adding to US resentment in the country, and surrounding region.And the new governments blaming the US for pushing an unrealistic timeline on them to get results now.
like I said, I dont want to get into the reasons we invaded iraq in this thread, were there now for better or worse.But at what point if any, do you think things will stabilize somewhat.Or are we at some point going to have to say enoughs enough and start withdrawing troops.It mentioned sending more troops in, maybe thats the answer to stem the violence.seriously I cant see any good way for this to play out right now.Anyone have an opinion on what it would take to get things going in the right direction over there at this point?
The militant factions supported by insergency from Syria and Iran will be flushed eventually, only by standing fast and firm and allowing the government infrastructure to build a solid foundation. There are probably local elected officials who are corrupt too.
The current instability is due to outside forces (Syriaand Iran )and does not reflect the will of the people. There are two nations here that want the region to become one Islamic Persia again under religious rulers.
To leave Iraq nowwould leave Iraq wide open to Iran to walk in with it's extremism and then the world would see Iraq back into a Saddam style governement there. As Iran smashed into Iraq, so too would Syria smashover Lebanon and into Israel and Jordan...( Syria too wants their old borders back )
Thats all very true.But their not building a solid infrastructure, theyre squabbling about petty differences between the factions.Imagine trying to defend themselves against Iraq with a mixed military that hates each other as much as they do.It would be like a pressure cooker just waiting to explode.
Another thing i was wondering is are we arming their new military in case of the possibilty of invasion?Say things do settle down and we get a fairly stable government, we pull out, and civil war breaks out over there like its been threatening to do.We would look like fools if theyre killing each other with our weapons at the end of this.I guesse Im having a little trouble envisioning a good possble outcome as far as the US is concerned, theres so many ways we could come out looking bad and very few win/win scenarios that it wont take much to flush everything down the toilet.im not so much worried about the US saving face as I am the possibilty that that many thousand people may have died for nothing including several thousand of our own troops.That would be the biggest waste of all.
I think (and hope) that U.S. forces are there for a long, long time. We have a lot more nutjobs to kill, capture, and disrupt--not only in Iraq, but around the region. We need our forces in country if we're going to have the maximum desired effect in fighting Islamic terrorist organizations.
Abandoning ship isn't going to solve anything, and further, it'll slow our accomplishments and bolster the morale of our enemies.
I agree with Aught Six. Iraq is winnable and will eventually be able to govern itself peacefully if we go the distance. We're just now starting to deal with iran and Syria who are the cause behind our current problems. Now if Israel will take out Iran's nuke capability, we'll have things even easier.
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I guesse I worded my question badly.Excluding our role over there, just focusing on what the Iraqi leaders need to do to make it work, what do you see as a possible solution for bringing that country together.How are they going to get people that cant stand each other to share power over there?
For the record I agree, pulling out now would be a huge mistake regardless of the politics associated with our invasion.All those lives and money would have been wasted and we would look like a joke to the rest of the world.
I guesse I worded my question badly.Excluding our role over there, just focusing on what the Iraqi leaders need to do to make it work, what do you see as a possible solution for bringing that country together.How are they going to get people that cant stand each other to share power over there?
We can't make anyone coexist with one another. All we can really do is support their efforts to create a government, provide counsel in times of diplomatic distress, and provide security (by both enforcing order and training Iraqi forces) until things are ironed out.
I remain cautiously optimistic that progress will continue, but on the other hand, I'm still open to the possibility that Iraq will need a strong, Shi'ite/Sunni/Kurd triumvirate type of governmentto suceed. That would be a gamble in itself, so hopefully we'll all stay on track with the democratic leadership and parliament.
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RE: Just curious
In the end, I think this may turn into another USSR. We may see modern-day Iraq divided into 3 separate nations. Of course, those nations would then fight one another and be vulnerable to invasion by their 'other' neighbors. But as it is now, I can't see those 3 fractions working together to find a meaningful truce and form a true government.
There has never been peace in the Middle East, and there never will be peace in the Middle East. We need to keep that mindset when dealing with these people...
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Just curious
