Doesn't the U.S. have an ethical duty to defend Iraq?

[S.A.M.]

We already do, SAM. Haven't you heard of the right to bear arms?

I mean inflaming the tensions and letting them shoot it out.

 

[madanthonywayne]

I mean inflaming the tensions and letting them shoot it out.

Been to the inner city?

 

[S.A.M.]

Been to the inner city?

Nah, but if Billy T is right, its not a long wait.

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

Divide it like Germany after WWII? I never thought of that. I like it.

It's not the same at all. Germany was one people, especially after they annihilated most of the Jews. Separating Germany into a Western state and an Eastern state was an artificial and purely political tactic. It divided communities and families.

Iraq is just the opposite. Like sub-Saharan Africa, Iraq was artificially combined by the colonial powers as a purely political tactic, by clueless Christian administrators drawing arbitrary lines over a map of the defunct Ottoman Empire. There is not really any such historical entity as Iraq. The Sunni Arab, Shiite Arab, and Kurdish tribes in that region had nothing in common historically except enmity.

To divide Germany was to ignore history. To divide Iraq is to respect history.

At its core Islam seems to be a tribal religion that is not much help in leading the Arabs toward nationhood, much less into the trans-national global civilization that is emerging in many places outside the Arab world. Saudi Arabia was the first true Islamic Arab nation, and it is young and unique.

Perhaps the saddest observation of the Bush Dynasty's destruction of Iraq is that it was at least partway down the path toward becoming another Arab nation: the only secular, pro-Western one.

 

[S.A.M.]

Dividing Iraq would be a big mistake; it would ensure civil war in the region for the next 100 years at least. I wish people would stop meddling in what they have no clue about.

 

[Athelwulf]

I just don't understand why they don't divide it up 3 ways - setup a good balance of power and then skedaddle.

Are we in the business of drawing foreign borders to our liking? Especially if we shouldn't be there in the first place?

Interesting. From that, I would take it that you think the New York City police should pull out of New York City altogether? And LAPD should pull out of Los Angeles?

Hmm, in fact, I can't think of any large city in the world where, using your ideals, the police shouldn't just pack up and leave.

Baron, a police force is a domestic service meant to keep the peace in its jurisdiction. A police force has no obligation to enforce the law outside its jurisdiction. Likewise, a country's military is a domestic service there to protect its country, not to solve other country's problems without the permission of that country.

A more apt analogy for the occupation of Iraq would be if the NYPD decided it had an obligation to fix the gang problem in LA, then moved into LA and said "Guess what you guys! We're taking over!", ignoring what LA thought about it.

To divide Germany was to ignore history. To divide Iraq is to respect history.

I think I see what you're saying, Fraggle. But I remember you posting once before about the problem ignorant Western leaders have of carving the Middle East to their own liking. I remember thinking you were definitely on to something.

In your statement here that I quote, you seem imply that the West should carve up Iraq. I certainly could be wrong though, and I'd like to know if I am. But if I'm not, then ditto what Sam said:

I wish people would stop meddling in what they have no clue about.

 

[Challenger78]

A parallel to Iraq , might be seen in former Yugoslavia, It split up mainly among ethnic lines. I think at least 2 of the splinter nations have close relations with each other but i'm not an expert. I think that is what will have to happen , if there is continued nationalist and ethnic movements.