Posted on 11/30/2006 1:28:19 PM PST by shrinkermd
A civil war is a bad thing. Look what happened to Lebanon, once the best places in the Middle East.
Depending on what you consider warriors to be, that 150,000 probably has only about a 10th being actual warriors.
I agree with you. Best case, of course. IMHO, the failure of the IDF last summer led the Iranians to put stuff into Iraq. The Bush Administration expected the Israelis to kick ass. Unfortunately, they did not.
We could back the Shia PROVIDED that we keep Mookie out of the picture and let the government take the Sunnis to the cleaners and provided that the Shia did not free the Sunnis completely out of the government. My guess is that we have been demanding a hand for them not so much because thy were really a threat but because the Saudis have been behind them.
And in Vietnam of the 500,000 there about 50,000 were in the field. BTW. the ability of the Third Army to change its front in, what three days, was amazing. Not even the Wehrmacht in its best days could have done that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.