U.S. rethinking Iraqi unification goal

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SpookyWriter

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I haven't even begun to read the article because I can guess what it will say:

We need to consider a separate area (north) where the Sunni can reside in peace with the (south) Shiite's.

Hmmm...North/South Korea? Or maybe North/South Vietnam? Please tell me I'm wrong....please...
 

blacbird

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What Americans need to realize is that, in contrast with Vietnam and Korea, which have solid long histories of population by a dominant single ethnic group, "Iraq" is an aritificial "nation", created at the aftermath of the fall of the Ottoman Empire in WWI largely by a group of Brits drawing lines on a map, with the aid of good brandy and cigars. It took into account nothing of the ethnic/religious/cultural subdivisions of the region, and was held together largely by brutal despotisms of one kind or another for eighty-plus years. It has the cohesiveness of a dust-bunny.

We Americans tend to think of "nations" in terms of maps and boundaries. That's a fairly new development in human history, dating back really only a couple centuries or so, in the Middle East, even less. Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and (God knows) Israel, are all creations of 20th Century politics. In the past 20 years we have seen the creation or resurrection of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Slovenia, Moldova, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Macedonia, Croatia, Kazakhstan, (thank you, Borat), Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kadjikistan as independent nation-states. Why should the idea of an independent Kurdistan and other subdivisions of this region of desert now known as "Iraq" be out of consideration?

caw
 
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blacbird said:
and was held together largely by brutal despotisms of one kind or another for eighty-plus years.

I think we're gonna need one of them to control this situation.

Where can we get a guy who is an Iraqi, knows how to be a brutal despot and doesn't mind doing the job necessary to keep this country under control?

:Shrug:
 

blacbird

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billythrilly7th said:
I think we're gonna need one of them to control this situation.

Where can we get a guy who is an Iraqi, knows how to be a brutal despot and doesn't mind doing the job necessary to keep this country under control?

We got one, currently sentenced to death for mass murder, and being tried for genocide, used to be pretty good at the job.

caw
 

Bartholomew

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blacbird said:
We got one, currently sentenced to death for mass murder, and being tried for genocide, used to be pretty good at the job.

caw

Lets not even mention who put him in office.
 

dclary

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blacbird said:
We got one, currently sentenced to death for mass murder, and being tried for genocide, used to be pretty good at the job.

caw

Yeah, but does milosevic speak iraqi?
 

Bartholomew

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dclary said:
Oh? Who?! Tell me! Please! I gotsta know!!!

Cancerman looks over each shoulder and draws off his cigarette. He plays with the smoke for a moment and then leans back into the shadows, savoring Dclary's anxiety.

"It was Billy "The Poptart" Thrilly."
 

dclary

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Bartholomew said:
Cancerman looks over each shoulder and draws off his cigarette. He plays with the smoke for a moment and then leans back into the shadows, savoring Dclary's anxiety.

"It was Billy "The Poptart" Thrilly."

Yeah, that puts your credibility right over there in the credibility toilet.

Sorry.
 

Bartholomew

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dclary said:
Yeah, that puts your credibility right over there in the credibility toilet.

Sorry.

The truth is out there.

I put it there.

Don't flush!

NOooooooooooooo!
 

MattW

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The Iraqi tribal/ethnic problem can be solved by divisions, but the question arises - who gets the oil rich areas? The Kurds sure don't.
 

Unique

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blacbird said:
We got one, currently sentenced to death for mass murder, and being tried for genocide, used to be pretty good at the job.

caw

Funny you should say that ....
 
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