Oh, we should run away and leave chaos behind, that will solve the problem, I don't think so. You know we aren't fighting a war on Islam. If Al Jazeera and their favorite muslim Bin Laden continue to poison the well it really doesn't matter. What does matter is if the Iraqis develope a modern society they will be the "poster children" that FREEDOM can bring. If Iraq is left to slip into anarchy it will become the new haven for the terrorists. Beyond that it will be a major defeat for the coalition. I'm sure Osama would love that one.
1. We have no Constitutional function to try to remake other societies.
2. The Government does not determine the character of a people, nor their culture.
3. Freedom dependent upon a foreign occupation is a mockery. Imagine what would have been the reaction, if after the French Navy played a key role at Yorktown, they had sent in a French Army to protect the fledgling States.
4. While we can create an illusion of prosperity by spending American tax dollars and credit in Iraq, that is hardly the way for a people to really progress. But there is a fatal flaw in the notion that Iraq is suddenly going to be a model. With a sea of oil, she can certainly prosper, as do the Saudis and Kuwaitis; and she does not need our physical presence to do that.
5. But with all her oil, and all of our extravagance, no amount of manipulation is going to turn her into the equivalent of a European nation. Those who remember from history, the glorious ancient and medieval societies in Mesopotamia, need to remember what Tamerlane and other Mongols did to the leadership groups in the area, 600 years ago. The genetic damage has not been undone.
Why do you think that Saddaam had to hire so many foreign technicians for his weapons programs? Why with all his wealth, was he unable to achieve the sort of technological break-throughs that a desperately poor North Korea--with a vastly higher average I.Q. achieved. I am not trying to be unkind, just facing the realities of the situation.
The danger of a continued American presence will always be in that we, as the outsiders, will achieve the blame for everything that goes wrong; as well as the hatred of those who will see our meddling as an attack on their way of life and value system. I suspect that Bin Laden actually loves the fact that we seem to be staying.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site