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Apologies for the shock, Ray. However, the Americans are in
Iraq. They have replaced Saddam as the power sitting on a potential powder
keg. Having taken on that role, they have to stay there, whether people
are taking pot shots at them or not. As a I suggested in a previous
posting, they need help, lots of it, and are now beginning to recognize
it. Pacifying and stabilizing Iraq is in everybody's interest and the US
has to find a way to manoever it's unilateral position into a multilateral
one.
Ed Weick
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, September 01, 2003 3:01
PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Taliban on the
increase
What will likely happen in Iraq if the
Americans walk out is a bloodbath.
> Various factions there, religious
or ethnic, do not appear to like each
> other very much. As long
as the Americans stay, they have a common enemy.
> If the Americans
leave, they'll only have themselves.
Excuse me Ed but from your usually logical posts
I was shocked to see the above statement. So we are supposed to
put our citizen military in the line of fire so that the Alpha Male dominant
theology of Islam can take pot shots at us and save their
lives? And where is the jolly rest of the lazy world
in all of this? I don't like that America treats the
world as a natural resource to be mined but I also don't support that the rest
of the world sits on its lazy hands and refuses to participate in
international problems except on their own terms. If Europe
had been less self-serving in places like Bosnia and Africa then those of
us in America resisting Bush would have had a much better case to make against
the war in Iraq.
I don't support putting my relatives in the
military out there to separate people who are so chauvinistic and provincial
that they can't imagine living together without being on
top. I realize that Hitler was the result of such
nonsense but America could have been less judgmental and more helpful in the
German transition from WW I and we would have had a shot at avoiding
Hitler. I also feel that we blew it in Russia after the fall of
Communism but this case of our being "sitting duck policemen" is not the
right time or the right place for us to be. I would prefer they go
through their human sacrifice routine that they are bound to do and
when the time is right we help the people who are capable of negotiation and
international affairs as well as being good leaders for their own
people. Support the education and sophistication of the
people and do not support the Rubes no matter how much they will sell
the oil cheaply to our Republican businessmen.
Ray Evans Harrell
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, September 01, 2003 1:07
PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Taliban on the
increase
> Keith, the only thing I can say in response is what I've said
before: the
> world will be a much more dangerous place if the Americans
withdraw from
> Iraq and leave a total mess. The same applies to
Afghanistan where, I'd
> agree, the Americans do not appear to have done
very much fixing up. The
> place remains under the control of
various warlords. And, as you and the
> NYTimes pointed out, the
Taliban are still there too.
>
> Yesterday I spent some time
rereading sections of Samantha Power's "A
> Problem from Hell: America
in the Age of Genocide". She goes into
> considerable detail on
how Ali Hassan al-Majid (aka Chemical Ali) solved the
> problem of the
Kurds for Saddam. Many thousands died either by being gassed
> or
lined up and shot. This was going on while Iraq was an American
ally.
> The US was dimly aware of it, but preferred to look the other
way.
>
> What will likely happen in Iraq if the Americans walk
out is a bloodbath.
> Various factions there, religious or ethnic, do
not appear to like each
> other very much. As long as the
Americans stay, they have a common enemy.
> If the Americans leave,
they'll only have themselves.
>
> Ed
>
> >
Ed,
> >
> > I don't wan't to be tedious about this but after
writing last night about
> > the complete and utter failure of the
Americans to do anything
> constructive
> > in Afghanistan --
and certainly in their main objective of finding or
> > killing Osama
bin Laden -- I read this morning as headlines in the New
> York
>
> Times that the Taliban are on the increase again!
> >
>
> When Alexander the Great invaded Afghanistan he left some real
legacies
> > behind him -- a couple of new cities if I remember my
history books
> rightly
> > -- as well as genes for blue eyes
and blonde hair which still turn up
> > surprisingly often in Afghani
children. The Americans have not left
> > anything even as
microscopic as that.
> >
> > The Americans completely and
utterly failed in Afghanistan, but they have
> > completely and
utterly succeeded in not reminding the American people of
> > this.
And, because of the indifference of people to others outside their
>
> own ambit, this failure is quite outside their consciousness and
the
> > ignorance will remain until the history books are written 50
or 100 years
> > down the line and it will only be scholars who will
register the fact in
> > their minds.
> >
> > The
same -- and worse -- will apply in Iraq. The Iraqis are only united in
>
> their hatred of the Americans. As regards their own relationships,
they
> > have become even more polarised than they were before. Just
like the
> Afghanis.
> >
> > Here's another forecast.
Today or tomorrow while the Ayatollah's coffin is
> > being carried
to its resting place, there might be an incident in which
> > some
American soldiers, despite their guns, will be torn limb from limb by
>
> the naked hands of Iraqi young men. If it doesn't happen in the next
two
> > days it will happen sooner or later. It will only take one
BBC or other
> > journalist to record this on video, and the
Americans will be out of Iraq
> > within a month.
>
>
> > Keith
> > Keith Hudson, 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath,
England,
> > <www.evolutionary-economics.org>
> >
> >
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>
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