Re: Post-Saddam Iraq?

From: Grant Callaghan (grantc4@hotmail.com)
Date: Sun 10 Nov 2002 - 01:31:07 GMT

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    > > >
    > > >But we ARE thinking about a Post-Saddamic Iraq...
    > > >
    > > >http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1052-438299,00.html
    > > >
    > > The writer of the article you referred us to seems to take the
    > > opposite position:
    > >
    > > There has been much less debate on the second great question: how will
    > > Iraq be governed after the American victory? This failure is harder to
    > > overlook, as we have reached the same point twice before — in 1919,
    > > when Britain became the mandatory power, and in 1991, when the Gulf
    > > War had been won. On each occasion there was a lack of preparedness.
    > > On each occasion, the failure to answer the question of Iraq’s future
    > > government led to great further difficulties.
    > >
    > > Perhaps one can make a checklist of the Iraq policies. Can the United
    > > States remove Saddam Hussain? Yes. Will that have UN support?
    > > Probably. Will Britain take part? Yes. Will victory remove Iraq’s
    > > threat of weapons of mass destruction? Yes. A better Iraq? Very
    > > probably. Are the US and UK willing to pay the long-term cost of their
    > > global defence commitments? There’s the rub.
    > >
    > > * * *
    > >
    > > My point is that there has been little or no debate of what to do and
    > > who will pay for it. What this writer says doesn't do much to assure
    > > me that the problem is being addressed and debated by the American and
    > > British people or the leaders of the two countries.
    > >
    >The appearance of such articles signals that the question is being
    >considered; there will have to be nation-building and institution-building;
    >the US knows that. Post-USSR Afghanistan and post-Gulf War Iraq
    >taught us that the US cannot conquer, cut and run to keep things on the
    >cheap, for (eventually) cheap it is not. The US will not repeat those
    >mistakes, for it full well knows their cost. Instead, it will look to its
    >successes in Japan and Germany for its model.
    > >

    I can only hope your crystal ball projects an accurate view of the future. The actions of the Bush team thus far don't give me much hope for that outcome.

    Grant

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