Anatomy of a civil war

[rwarn17588]

This article is very long, but it's highly recommended if you want to get a very good feel for what's going on in Iraq and how very grave the situation is.

http://www.bostonreview.net/BR31.6/rosen.html

[snopes]

I haven't read the article yet (I will), but the situation seems to be exponentially deteriorating every single day.

[tim huntzinger]

And do you like how the 'neo-cons' are blaming the Iraqis as a prelude for exiting?

[snopes]

quote:Originally posted by tim huntzinger

And do you like how the 'neo-cons' are blaming the Iraqis as a prelude for exiting?

I only read about a fifth of the article (which is very well written, btw) before I had to back out for awhile. You were right rwarn, it is very long.

Tim, I'm not sure I understand your question. As for the neo-cons blaming the Iraqis as a prelude for exiting, I guess I didn't get to the part of the article where it states that as their objective, although I'm sure anyone who is politically minded (in a bad way) will use every tool at their disposal to fend off criticism. Ethics are in short supply these days.

[tim huntzinger]

No real question there, more of a snarky rhetorical criticism.  To explain the collapse of civility, proponents of the war - those who issued rosey post-invasion scenarios - are blaming 'the Iraqis.'  This will be subtle but devastating, from 'we cannot stand down because the Iraqis have not stood up,' or 'if the Iraqis cannot get their act together' or any such derivative.

If one has nothing to live for one will die for anything.  We have set up the preconditions for failure by not making equitable wealth distribution core to their 'representative democracy.'

I am convinced that if 'the Iraqis' really thought that their oil wealth would be shared among those claiming Iraqi citizenship - much like the Saudi kingdom, or even Venezuela(!) - they would not be as likely to want to align themselves with a particular faction.  The current paradigm encourages sectarian factionalization: the king-of-the-hill, winner-take-all stakes drives those with nothing to lose into the camp they believe will win.

Sayyyyy . . . why are James Baker and Madelaine Albright - registered Kuwaiti lobbyists - advocates for Iraqi reparations for damages incurred during Gulf War I?

[Cubs]

I am glad you all know so much having been there and all ... haha. How do you know you are being fed true info? ... I am not saying that it is getting better or worse, I haven't been there, I don't know .... and neither do you.

[tim huntzinger]

Sure, I do.  There are these devices called cameras, and those things called words, and, if one uses the powers of observation and reason, one can draw conclusions.  If one has done a lot of reading and ingests a lot of information about a subject, one can draw particularly informed conclusions!

Try reading these so-called 'words,' Baby Bear:James Baker's Double Life by Naomi Klein

Now, 'think': Why has the President placed James Baker - a paid lobbyist for Kuwait - at the head of a commission which will be used to determine the fate of Iraq?

[rwarn17588]

Cubs, you're now just being stupid.

We've had 200+ people in Iraq killed in the past few days, mosques are burning, the word "civil war" is bandied about daily, and Baghdad can't even keep the power on for more than a few hours (which is kinda important in the typical 110-degree heat).

Meanwhile, even a Bush supporter like Henry Kissinger says that victory in Iraq is impossible.

Yet you persist in this notion that "I'm not saying it's getting better or worse." What other conclusion would you draw?

[papaspot]

quote:Originally posted by rwarn17588

Cubs, you're now just being stupid.

Nah, he's just trolling. No one could POSSIBLY be THAT stupid. It's just an act to get attention.

[snopes]

Selp portrait of anybody who doesn't know it's going very badly over there.

[aoxamaxoa]

Who exactly is the enemy in Iraq now?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/world/middleeast/26insurgency.html?ei=5065&en=517dd351bce05056&ex=1165122000&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

"NYT Sunday: Insurgency is now self-sustaining financially, raising tens of millions of dollars a year from oil smuggling, kidnapping, counterfeiting, connivance by corrupt Islamic charities and other crimes that we've been helpless to stop "