Russia forgives $8 billion to Iraq

pravda ^ | 11/22/2004 14:04 | staff

[Republican Wildcat]

There seemed to be an awful lot of participation in that Afghanistan Election.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Oh, man that is a really , really good read.....

most of that should be appearing in the MSM in some form.....


Thanks.

[jb6]

How said and typical, TTS(Allah) doesn't want to comment on this good news thread or other such good news threads. Hmmm, do you think his handlers..er advisors are upset by these new developments?

[monday]

"Democracy is working in Bangladesh and Turkey. In fact, Turkey gave women the right to vote before Great Britain did. Pakistan, for all of its problems, had a female Prime Minister. Afghanistan just had elections, and the first voter was a 19-year-old female."

Virtually all of these countries as well as other predominately Muslim countries have had to ban Islamic political parties.

The reason is that the populace would vote in an Islamic government and that would be the end of democracy as the Mullahs would control elections from then on. See Iran for reference.

In other words they have had to save the citizenry from themselves. No Islamic country is truly democratic or free. Most, however, aren't divided by two different religious sects and two different ethnic groups like Iraq is.

Don't get me wrong, I hope they do well. I doubt they will though. They have everything going against them, including a superstitious and conspiracy theory driven populace.

[agooga]

I don't have any problem banning fundamentalist clerics from running for office in the nations we bring elections to. We occupied them, we can set the rules.

Previous poster mentioned Imperial Japan-- there's a nation with a lot of parallels to Iraq. We destroyed their ability to wage war and occupied them for several years-- setting the rules and insisting on the type of government and elections they would use.

Today Japan is a free and democratic success story of the highest order.

I don't believe things like that happen by accident. And I believe that successes like that are repeatable.

[monday]

"Previous poster mentioned Imperial Japan-- there's a nation with a lot of parallels to Iraq. "

Except that Japan has a monolithic ethnicity and religion that isn't Muslim. Japan also had a modern technological culture. Iraqi culture is the same Islamic tribal culture that existed in the middle ages. Japanese were also not terrorists. They fought conventionally, and as far as I know didn't hide behind women and children.

I don't see any parallels between Japan and Iraq. A better comparison would be the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. This is the sort of conflict that is occurring in Iraq.

[agooga]

With all due respect, you may be ignoring the obvious in favor of a belief. The parallels between Imp Japan and Iraq are there. Obviously I am not suggesting that they are exactly the same, but to ignore certain ones indicates a willingness not see how they hurt your argument.

These parallel include:

A fundamental and zealous belief in their cause.

An enemy that idolizes leaders with near god-like stature.

A totalitarian society that eschews individuality in favor of service to... (Emporer / Allah)

Little value for indivdual life / emphasis on afterlife (ishi-goren / yen and a half, the term used to refer to Jap conscripts based on postage price for conscription letter).

Western perception of enemy as barbaric and without redemption.

A martyr's death analagous to kamakazi / bonzai death.

Societies with a single religion and strict rules of discipline and adherance.

I could go on and on, but frankly I don't have time. Trust me that I know something about which I write, but ultimately, you may be right. Perhaps Iraq is doomed. Nothing is certain. But I am not ready to throw in the towel yet. America has had some real success in this field, I see no obvious reasons why another success is at least a credible possibility.

[Barlowmaker]

America has had some real success in this field, I see no obvious reasons why another success is at least a credible possibility.

It takes unfailingly optimistic, brass balled leadership like that of Harry S. Truman, Ronald W. Reagan ... and George W. Bush.

[SunkenCiv]

just a tiny typo in an otherwise excellent post.

"I see no obvious reasons why another success is at least a credible possibility."

s/b

"I see no obvious reasons why another success is NOT at least a credible possibility."