[Shermy]

Why? Does the United States have any ideas on this pivotal subject?

Why doesn't he? I recall the US tried to get these very same groups to cooperate, but it was like herding cats.

[WOSG]

Dont be pessimistic. Former Congressman Flannagan, who represents Assyrian Christians in Iraq, was on Fox yesterday. There was a recent accord signed by *all* parties calling for a secular, national (not federated) Democratic Iraq - all groups signed on to the agreement, from shi'ite, sunnin, kurds , turkomen, and the rest.

He sounded very hopeful, even beyond it to idealism that Democracy could be established readily in a post-Saddam Iraq.

[TigerLikesRooster]

RE #2

The long span of a brutal dictatorship usually leave behind a number of fractious oppositions which cannot govern effectively once the dictatiorship is toppled. It is not just in Iraq but happened to all countries which went through such an oppression. Bickering and sniping will be inevitable. As long as there is neither omni-present secret police nor civil war nor routine political killings nor expansionist leader picking war against neighbors nor sponsoring terrorists to attack infidels, I will call it a success.