Beyond water and light in Iraq

Posted August 6, 2003 to World category.

Eloquent summary of the problems being faced in Iraq. They're not just about restoring electricity and water, they go far beyond that.

Our problems in Iraq go far deeper than security, water and light.

...There seems to be no idea of how a new Iraq fits into a regional security and stability plan. They want to "hold elections" which may well be the final act before a civil war. Iraq doesn't have a government, at any level. Most of the Iraqi government's legacy was burnt to the ground as Rumsfeld shrugged. The reality is that US plans in Iraq may not encourage Palestinians to make peace, but instead may create a new home for Muslim revivalist thought. Not an Iran, but a place as dedicated to espousing the Palestinian issue as Saddam was, but without his corruption and misdirection.

...I fear that we have taken on a project we truly do not understand.

Update: US soldiers bulldoze farmers' crops.

US soldiers driving bulldozers, with jazz blaring from loudspeakers, have uprooted ancient groves of date palms as well as orange and lemon trees in central Iraq as part of a new policy of collective punishment of farmers who do not give information about guerrillas attacking US troops.
>> Patrick Cockburn in Dhuluaya, The Independent

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First off, you can't even compare the conflict in Iraq and the conflict with Palestine. Palestine doesn't even have land. They are a nation, not a state. Also, the campaign in Iraq is not something that will happen over night. Did the US become a super power in a week? No, it took many years, with many great leaders in our governmental system. Iraq must first establish sovereignty among it's people. How else, without another countries intervention, would this happen? The UN has had resolutions on "the conflict in iraq" for many years now, and look at the progress they have made. Look at the progress they have made in many areas. Libera, Demecrotic Republic of the Congo, or Israel (since 1967). The fact is, since the US is the only recognized super power (we have the military available, and we are the most willing country in terms of military, - we are the only country so far to use nuclear arms in war - atomic bomb in Japan) therefore, we are the only NGO (national govermental orginazation) that will actually do something about the spread of democracy. (According to the book Perpetual Peace, all countries, if democratic, will end war - in the past, since democracy, there has been no democratic State fight another democratic State). The world cannot rely on IGO's (Inter-governmental Orginaztions) to spread human rights for women and children, better international trade, increase in a states economy, states own army without rebel groups, and nationalism. Also, you have been shut down by a college student studying International Relations/Business and Political Science. Booyah!

See here, here, here, here and here for my response to the above comment. For offsite links, see DailyKos.

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