i had mentioned in another thread (that simply cannot be found!) that the usa should think twice about promoting and establishing democracy in iraq because the people would most likely elect for an islamic state run by mullah and the like. for instance......... In the late eighties, three Islamic movements (in Tunisia, Algeria, and Turkey) almost came to power through general elections. The secular reaction was strong and swift: confrontations at all levels until this ‘threat’ is removed. In the nineties, most governments cracked down on their opposition (Islamic and secular) and undid the small democratic reforms that they implemented in the eighties. (Islam & Democracy) iraq now, according to reports, wherever a measure of local rule exists, is run by shiite clergy type folks. they have expressed a desire for an islamic state. the other iraqi ethnic and religious groups see this and are alarmed. so what do we do? if i were to make a choice right now, i would let em do whatever they want and hightail my ass outta that hellhole. but ........... as much as i like the the idea of self determination for all people, theocracies suck! so i am conflicted. i mean we are in iraq after all . might as well give democracy a shot. no? yes? chalabi wants the us to hang around for couple of years, rig the system and see that the old guard prevail in elections (i think). perhaps i am making unwarranted and negative assumptions about the nature of islamic states. if so, enlighten me, those in the know.
The American leaders are basically damned if they do and damned if they don't. If American leaders allow democratic elections that result in the creation of an Islamic theocracy they will be harshly criticized. If American leaders pick the new Iraqi leader themselves in order to avoid the creation of an Islamic theocracy they will be harshly criticized. The solution may lie in forced conversions to Discordianism.
I will be seriously peeved if it ends up as a theocracy. It would end up being just as bad for the people as iran. Hopefully the Iraqi's are smart enough not to shoot themselves in the head by allowing themselves to fall into the same trap many middle-eastern countries have.
Regardless of what government we set up, as soon as we leave the assination of new government officials will begin and Saddams followers will come crawling out of the sand. We will have to occupy Iraq for the next 20 years or more. hell probably until the oil runs out.
Nah... be too much trouble to occupy for oil. Like I have been saying from day one: It is cheaper to just buy oil than to take it by force.
Clockwood That pretty much depends on the price of the oil. If none is available at a price we want to pay we will take it. oops we already have.
It is still available because we are the biggest buyer. If nobody was willing to sell to us lots of countries would go flat out broke. Oil will be available to us for as long as there is oil because they have the supply and we have the demand. And oil is not anywhere near costly enough to warrent $90,000,000,000 of expenditures. Plus our government wouldnt know what to do if you gave it a billion barrles of crude. All that stuff is handled by the private sector.
Iraqi oil is the most expensive America will ever procure: Nothing fuels fundamentalist revolution and civil war like American neocolonialism in the postcolonial, postzionist muddled east. Petrodollars are going the way of King Coal: They don't see it yet, but AmeriKosherCorp was doomed in the instant the first Mecca-Cola was purchased with Euros.
the faces of a democratic iraq Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! An Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim is covered in blood after striking himself on the head with a sword during a procession to the holy shrine of Imam Hussein in Kerbala, April 23, 2003 The Shia pilgrimage to Karbala, one of the most potent and symbolic in recent Iraqi history, took on a strident political and martial note yesterday with demands for the establishment of an Islamic state and threats of a jihad against the "American occupiers". http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=399804
It's not about oil for profit... it's about oil for power. If we have our hands on the spigot we have power over Europe, power over China and power over Russia. We're already talking about 'punishing' France for daring to oppose us on the charge to war who's next? Will domestic critics be 'punished' next? Marx and Engels said that communism cannot exist in isolation, how much more true is this for market-based economies?
Clockwood, You're making a mistake by looking at the big picture. The $80 billion that was used for this war didn't cost Bush a dime. With one move (the attack on Iraq), Bush helped both the oil companies and the defense industry. This war was a win-win situation for Bush and a lose-lose situation for the average taxpaying American.
Forieng oil dosent help domestic oil. Ill pay more taxes for a free world. Spookz Im pretty sure you didn't mean that but. You have a secular national goverment that controls foreing policy and miltary stuff like that. Then you have the local goverments that would make laws for themselves such as city A can make it a law to go to the masque every, another could make it illegal to have more then 1 wife. The local goverment makes these laws and enforces them.
