Posted on 04/07/2003 11:29:20 AM PDT by Smogger
That's for sure. The UN cannot be allowed to come anywhere near this. If they touch post-war Iraq, they will ruin everything we have fought for. It will be like curing someone of cancer and then allowing them to be exposed to a carcinogen again.
Reply: Say when...
That movie completely changed my opinion on Val Kilmer's acting skills.
Credit goes to antaresequity. I thought it was brilliant, too, laz17.
IMHO, the French and the Germans have the luxury of drinking the kool-aid in their "alternative reality," in a way these Shia do not, having been persecuted and suppressed for decades by their own "government." We've been guaranteeing French and German national security for decades, via NATO. And these idiots seem to be doing everything in their power to wreck that alliance. Fine with me -- a "pox on both their houses!"
Putting the Shia of Iraq back on their feet would likely have certain quite amazing (and IMHO quite favorable) ramifications throughout the Middle East. Iraq is Shia Islam's "holy land," the birthplace of Ali who, as I recall, was Muhammed's nephew and son-in-law. Its preeminent holy city (to which pilgrims used to go, until Saddam clamped down on the sect) is Najah. To the extent that Saddam has suppressed Shia, the "holy city" effectively has shifted from Najah, to Qum in Iran -- where the Shia are far more radical, theologically and politically. Iranian-style Shia (often the excuse for "holy war" against the West) will likely lose prestige to the more "classical" form of Islam typified by Iraqi-style Shia, which is fundamentally both rational and peaceful.
This has been a brilliant campaign, both in terms of military success (so far) and, more broadly, cultural transformation in the region. Anybody who thinks that George Bush and company are stoopid war hawks just hasn't noticed what is really going on....
Of course it's Shi'ites and Sunnies, aren't Saddams thugs almost all Sunnis, with the odd Christian thrown in?
The Bloods and the Crips?
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