There’s nothing funnier than listening to reporters trying to dance around the name “al-Qaqaa”.
At least the ammo dump wasn’t at the secret Iraqi base near Hayyid D’Salaami…
Tonight’s Parting Thought
Published
There’s nothing funnier than listening to reporters trying to dance around the name “al-Qaqaa”.
At least the ammo dump wasn’t at the secret Iraqi base near Hayyid D’Salaami…
What exaclty are you doing with the iraqi flag? Will you stop your “flip-flop”!
Something borked with the template, so it was calling the wrong version. It’s fixed now.
Apparently the Iraqis will chose a new flag sometime after the elections in January. Good for them, as the old flag is the flag of the brutal Ba’ath Party. It would be like Germany adopting the swastika as their national symbol after World War II. Then again, it’s the Iraqi people’s choice – whatever flag they chose is the one that will be displayed here.
“Then again, it’s the Iraqi people’s choice – whatever flag they chose is the one that will be displayed here.”
That might be about the only thing they get to choose. I’m curious, Jay, what do you think Iraq’s future will be, assuming Bush is successful with whatever he is (and his advisors are) doing? Do you honestly think we went in there with altruism in mind, to free the Iraqis from Hussein and bring democracy to their country? Do you think once they have elections and they have enough of a military that the US presence there will quietly disappear and we can pat ourselves on the back for being good samaritans?
The people who really believe that should move to Disneyland. America will be in Iraq for a long time, and so will our military bases and oil companies. But don’t take my word for it, look at the recent record. I’ve lived and worked in the former Yugoslavia and I can tell you Clinton’s wars there had nothing to do with helping Muslim Bosnians or Kosovo Albanians. Nothing. Bosnia and Kosovo are basket cases, now 5 to 10 years on, and magnitudes worse than before we used our “diplomacy” and military might to subdue the Serbians. The good news for us is that now we have military bases in both places, including Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo, the largest US military complex built since Vietnam. No surprise then that American (and some European) corporations have bought up the most successful local firms at pennies on the dollar through the use of bribes and/or political influence. I know this because I know the people involved with it. The standard of living for people in that part of the world is only a fraction of what it used to be before the the US got involved, but at least there is plenty of Coca-Cola and Motorola cell phones.
The Balkans are a de-facto colony of America and the most powerful European countries that helped bomb the place, and that is what Iraq has to look forward to as well.
I figure Iraq will be much like Japan or Germany – a sovereign nation with close ties to the United States. Remember that Kosovo was a UN operation, and the UN practically runs Kosovo. This is one of the reasons I did not and do not support significant UN involvement in the Iraqi political process.
We’ll certainly have a significant garrison of troops in Iraq for some time, as we did in Japan and Germany, but I see them as being there for force projection rather than for security. The goal is to have the Iraqis running the show (which they essentially do now) and have Iraqis defending their own country. We certainly don’t want to keep 125,000+ troops in Iraq for too long.
And if Iraq tells us to go to hell and cozies up to the French, so long as they’re democratic and not allowing their country to be a petri dish for terrorism, I’ll say they’re nuts, but the choice remains theirs.
Jay,
as much as I believe in your honesty when assessing the situation, I have to say that:
1-Germany and Japan’s backgrounds are in no way comparable to the History of Irak. Assuming that the outcome of US operations in Europe after WWII wil be the same as today in Irak is highly….hypothetik at best.
2-If you had listened to the millions marching against the war instead of dismissing their views so easily, you would have understand that the first concern of people like me is that the Bush administration is REALLY linked to the petroleum industry. Way too much in fact. To me, it is quite clear that Iraqis will never have their word on the attribution of any oil contracts untill it’s depleted (50 years max). The next generation of iraqi oficials will be anyway all too dedicated to their “promoter”>>the US!!
Refusing to see that is more than naive; it’s dishonnest.
Iraq already has control of their oil – the Iraqi Oil Ministry is in charge, and they can sell to whomever they want. In fact, they’ve sold oil to everyone from Royal Dutch/Shell to Total. The Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) decides all oil sales under the Iraqi government. The Oil Ministry was one of the first ministries to pass into Iraqi hands after the transfer of sovereignty from the CPA to Prime Minister Allawi.
May I please have the source of your comments please (showing who’s getting the contracts)?
I hope you’re not confusing exploration/production contracts and basic sales of oil to oil companies…
As I said before, but it sounds like I have to say it again: it’s very likely that iraqi officials who where chosen by americans to receive their charge from americans will be friends with americans more than any one else. That doesn’t seem to count for you…
Moreover, what kind of “sovereignity” are you talking about??? The one that let americans decide whether iraqi security forces should have a gun or not? Yeah, so independant!!!
Regarding Kosovo, that in no way was a UN operation. This is fact. Russia and China opposed military action on the Security Council, which is why the US bypassed the UN and led NATO during the 78 day destruction of Serbia. I’ve been there and I’ve seen the damage–it was horrific. The UN only became involved when America and some European nations (primarily Germany) got rid of Milosevic and opened the way for more “western-friendly” leadership in Serbia. Serbia was finally open for western business interests. The cleanup of Kosovo, the real dirty work of keeping the peace and building a nation, was dumped on the UN. Much as Bush now wants to do with Iraq.
Vincent is absolutely correct, Iraq is in no way comparable to Japan and Germany. To say this would be to completely discount the culture, geography, traditions, history and religions of the three nations used in your statement. Just because Iraq and Germany are/were coming out of wars does not make the situations the same. Have you ever traveled to the Middle East? Believe me, it is nothing like Central Europe.
Kosovo is a much better comparison, though also not ideal. Albanian culture is clanish, the population has been financially poor for centuries and the predominent religion is Islam. Certainly more like Iraq than wealthy, western and Prodestant/Catholic Germany. Kosovo is an absolute basket case today. The place is awash in guns, the mafia controls the black market, blood feuds are the norm and there is complete instability.
Another historical precedent for Iraq is the West Bank. Palestinian culture and Iraqi culture have many similarities. The West Bank was invaded as was Iraq. Now both places have an angry population willing to commit suicide for their respective causes. So, if Israel and its extremely powerful military still has not been able to subdue terrorism in the West Bank, what makes you think we can do so in Iraq?
As soon as we get the oil contracts and military bases we’ll turn over the nation-building to the UN. You must open your eyes to how the world really works.
Thank you for answering my questions Jay. It shows how much your sources are reliable (as much as your sayings).
Reality, keep the date of this post you just made, and send the link to this website the day it comes true.