Re: not to stir the kettle that called the pot black, but...

From: Georgie Hinklemyer <samoolives_at_yahoo.com_at_hypermail.org>
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 05:04:39 -0000

--- In OliveStarlightOrchestra_at_yahoogroups.com, "tschibasch"
<tschibasch_at_y...> wrote:
 
> ...I wonder if our attempts to stop terrorism has
> not backfired and created more terrorists committed to attacking the
> USA...
>
> > Yes, Saddam was evil and the Iraqi people will likely be better
off
> > in the long run. But this is a bill of goods few people would have
> > bought.
>
> He was a terrible dictator who had been destroying Iraq since the
> 1970s. Good riddance. I don't feel that it was our job to take him
> down, but there it is. And we now are footing the bill for it.
>
> John

The US has a vicious cycle on it's hands:

1. We can't leave Iraq until *WE* are comfortable with the way they
govern themselves, and

2. They can't begin a new government until they have the bare
necessities (water, electricity, schools, etc.), and

3. The Iraqi citizens have been under a dictator's thumb (and the
influence of a powerfully leader-oriented religion) for so long that
it's hard for them fo break out of their mold into democracy, so

4. They're expecting the US soldiers to clean up the city and
utilities and take care of them, but

5. They don't trust us enough (and who can blame them?) to clean
things up, and

6. The US soldiers are not trained for civil servant activities, so

7. Things take so long that some Iraqis just go and take what they
want/need, never mind who it could be hurting (eg. bootleg
electricity, broken water pipes, pillaged power plants, etc.), thus

8. US soldiers get impatient and don't take the time to discern the
pillagers from the police, and

9. Things go from bad to worse, and

10. We can't leave yet...

What's the answer? We need to take the soldiers out and replace them
with honest domestic servants. (Do they exist?) But we can't take the
soldiers out because they're protecting...what? Oil? Business
holdings? Sadaam? Back to the vicious circle.

Sorry for an endless, pointless rant. Now I'm really depressed.

G.
Received on 2003-09-13 22:04:42