--as crummy as Turkey may be, it is by far the most successful of all Muslim democracies. The best you can aspire to.--
Does Indonesia not count? There is as much ethnic diversity and strife in that part of the world as in the mideast. The Aceh separatists or the fanatics on Sulawesi are (pound for pound) just as violent as any in Turkey or as the PKK. Yet the country is in the transitional state between military dictatorship and something vaguely approaching a representative republic. Highly corrupt, but so are 95% of the nation-states on Earth.
As for the present, the only reasonable alternative to cutting and running may be the installation of a Shah-like dictator in Iraq. So be it, as long as it is a "smart Shah" that won't have secret police firing into crowds of protesters.
The key is keeping enough strings attached to cause a "soft landing" a decade or two in the future, and not to turn the place over to Sadrists, in the asinine fashion of a Jimmy Carter. That is also the situation confronting the West in Egypt at this time.
--To expect Iraq to do as "well: as Turkey is foolish.--
No sane person on this thread has suggested that. Those appellatives should be reserved for those who deserve them, i.e. the neobuchananite isolationists who offer no positive alternative. That's the whole premise of this thread.
Does Indonesia not count?
I would say not, because Indonesia just had its first real Presidential election. History is littered with countries that had one election. Having more than one is the hard part.
As for the present, the only reasonable alternative to cutting and running may be the installation of a Shah-like dictator in Iraq. So be it, as long as it is a "smart Shah" that won't have secret police firing into crowds of protesters. I suspect you may be correct. We could also try partitioning. In hindsight we should have simply kept Saddam.
--To expect Iraq to do as "well: as Turkey is foolish.-- No sane person on this thread has suggested that. Those appellatives should be reserved for those who deserve them, i.e. the neobuchananite isolationists who offer no positive alternative. That's the whole premise of this thread.
I'm not a Buchanon fan. I think he is racist and anti-semitic. I think he puts America ahead of Christianity. I think his policies are incompatible with the principle of loving your neighbor as yourself. But I agree that all of the alternatives in Iraq are at best long shots. We cannot do anything until we change the hearts of people in Iraq. And soldiers simply cannot do that. Missionaries can, but soldiers cannot.
Spending more time in Iraq is not worth losing more pro-life senators.