HOME | POLITICS | SPORTS | LIFE | SCI/TECH | OPEDS | HELPFUL TIPS
|
Sept. 27, 2006 I kind of wondered what the US was up to when it invaded Iraq. Few Middle Eastern counties welcome westerners, even in an advisory capacity. I thought that President Bush had a weapon with which he would keep the radicals in check. Apparently the US, beyond the naïve belief that democracy will solve all of the world’s problems, has no more insight than the previous European colonial regimes. At least the French had the FLN on the ropes in Algeria until De Gaulle turned it in to a political war by stating that eventually Algeria would cease to be part of Metropolitan France. And I don’t remember reading of any great urge for self-determination in these counties until the US, the USSR and the PRC came on the scene. From the point of view of grand strategy I guess that the US could pull out now but of course politically this is impossible; no political party can be expected to cut its own throat and, from the point of view of world stability, it would be a bad move as it could put the democrats in power, a party since the end of the war famous for it military ineptitude. Pulling out now will only damage the US reputation and lead to an upsurge in terrorism in much the same way as the US pullout from Viet Nam gave the dictators and terrorists the impression that the US was a weak giant. Any pull out will have to be accomplished using a timetable unsuitable to the democrats. You could say that delay t will lead to further loss of innocent life. Well you could also say that to pull out now would lead to an even greater loss of innocent live, although not necessarily in Iraq. Al Queda can now relocate in Iraq as things get too hot for it in Afghanistan, minus of course the Taliban Sunni protection force who would be unwelcome in Shiite dominated Iraq, and of course also minus the benefit of the Afghan poppy production that goes along with it. Just as did the loss of Viet Nam encourage the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan in order to fulfill the age old Russian dream of obtaining a warm water port, so too did the US invasion of Iraq encourage al Queda to try to make a name for its self there. President Reagan allowed the Soviets to spend just enough money to bankrupt themselves before he released US Stinger SA weapons to the mujahideen, thus nullifying the Hind helicopter gunship. The drawing of al Qaeda into Iraq will also put them in a difficult position, this time that of being a Sunni force in a Shiite land at a time of stretched al Queda resources: the suicide bomber. It is easier to convince these people to give up their lives in order to blow up a westerner than to do the same in order to kill fellow Muslims, although of course not impossible. Following World War One four world empires consisting of the Hohenzollerns, the Hapsburgs, the Romonovs and the Ottomans were liquidated. The US spared no effort at censuring the remaining European Empires, blaming the colonial presence for the unrest in non-western counties and greatly contributing to their decline. The US is now the sole arbiter of world power. As it put itself in this position its people should not now shrink their responsibilities. They cannot just walk away. ------------ About the author: Read Mike Haran's essays on history at http://www.geocities.com/manzikertca/ Email: manzikertca@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
