[Zipporah]

The biggest problem as I see it, is the Iranian influence on the Shittes.. Seems they are 'hell bent' on taking over Iraq .. much to the chagrin of the Assyrian Christians, Kurds, Sunnis, etc etc etc.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

At present, only Turkey, Lebanon and some of the ex-Soviet republics have been able to form secular governments in the midst of Muslim populations. All the rest that have constitutional governments have recognized Islam as the official religion.

The administration’s belief that a representative democracy as we know it can flourish in an Islamic society seems to fly in the face of lessons learned from a history of more than 14 centuries. Removing religion as the organizing principle of society, replacing it with a non-religious substitute, is totally foreign to Islam.

The second paragraph is contradicted by the first. And there is a hole-card in Iraq known as "$20 billion per year of oil revenue." Once establish a secular government which dispenses that $$$ to the people individually in an Iraqi Social Security System, and the people will never vote in a secret ballot to undermine that government. That may average out to poverty in America, but in the third world we're talking wealth.

Shi'ite or no, at that price I think the people will be bought and stay bought.

[PGalt]

Good article. Thanks for the post.

free society...freedom-loving individuals...freedom to live their own lives...free and open society under a representative and responsible government...freedom-seekers...freedom

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