hehehhehe is right, of course. I'm being more sarcastic than serious. I believe we never should have "handled" the Iraq situation the way we (or Bush, rather) did, but I also realize that certain charitable "obligations" are probably in order now that we have. I was just poking fun at SwamP_ThinG, who always seems to want it both ways, somehow, no matter how unrealistic that actually is.


I agree.

One thing that we have all noticed is the chummy "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" relationship between this current Republican administration and the Big American Oil Companies and their suppliers, like Halliburton. They all supported Bush very heavily, for what he could bring them financially. If their interests are threatened or they are forced to vacate them altogether it would not bode well for Bush and Co. politically, that's for sure. It would do those companies good to have to learn the hard way the possible costs and consequences of following a fool into a disaster.


I don't think there are any Arab UN troops, are there? Except maybe the Turks, and nobody in their right mind is ever going to voluntarily let them get a toe-hold in Iraq - particularly not the Kurdish minority in the country. That alone would constitute casus belli for an instant civil war, so far as they're concerned. The Kurds and the Turks hate each other; that's exactly why there are no Turkish forces in northern Iraq right now. So what Arab UN troops are you referring to? You need several hundred thousand of them, remember, and you'll be needing them for years. Do you know of any Arab UN armies of about 2-4 million (because that's what it would take) that could handle that job?

The reality of who will pay the ongoing costs of rebuilding Iraq is very, very clear. The US will continue to foot the bill only for as long as we are actually in full charge of the country, militarily. Once the US troops pull out, the stream of US money will dry up very quickly indeed. It will be reduced to a tiny "token" trickle that will only be maintained for the sake of political appearances. Surely that much is obvious from past incidents of this sort. Once the US troops are out of there the Iraqi's will find themselves on their own, finanacially, for all intents and purposes, I think.

And so it should be. They were never entitled to economic "welfare" from the US, not even because of the war. Just because one country defeats another in battle does not make them automatically responsible for taking care of that country financially afterward, and certainly not forever. Everything that they receive now is simple charity, and nothing more. We're not financially obligated to them in any way, not legally. Anybody that truly believes otherwise is merely indulging themselves in some sort of wishful thinking.

The Iraqi's themselves need to "get real" with regards to our actual legal liabilities in this matter. We have none. The Iraqi's themselves will have to pay the lion's share of the costs for the consequences of their own military and political foolishness themselves.

The Iraqi's should also be thankful that we don't just adopt a "winner takes all" attitude and make Iraq the 51st State of the USA. That's what winners used to do. They truly owned the countries they conquered, in the literal sense. The people of the conquered country had no rights of any sort. They became the "property" of the victor, to do with as they pleased.


How do you know I haven't? How do you know that I don't every day? More presumptuous arrogance on your part...


Some would. Others would be happy to hand it all over to the UN today, if they could, but the UN does not actually seem to be offering to take the problem off our hands right now, are they? I don't think they really want it either.


Then what's your complaint?


Why should we? Lets just ignore it. It will all go away eventually. It always does.


I think we could handle it. We'd survive.


Yes, it's truly incredible what a shitty "war president" Bush has turned out to be. Unbelievable.

I agree that we probably won't ever get our investment back.


The ball is definitely in the Iraqi's court now. They will have to pull themselves together or they will all sink together into civil war eventually. They have to get tough on their own hardliners themselves, or accept their own responsibility for failing to do so, and all the consequences that follow.

US patience is not infinite. We have given them the opportunity and the resources and the tools to make it work, but if they won't take advantage of that opportunity themselves then the US will have to pull out and leave them to deal with their problems themselves, sooner or later here. It's only a matter of time - the clock is ticking and time is running out for them.

It's up to them, now. Only they can truly save themselves from themselves. We can't do that for them. And their time is running out fast. Faster than they think, if you believe the polls over here right now.

I didn't agree with Bush on Iraq. I think he's a wide-eyed fool. But I also have no doubt at all that if the Iraqi's HAD met us with flowers, and had welcomed us and worked with us, and had put their hearts, hands and heads into creating a new country for themselves, they could have done it, with our help.

They could have done it.

I do believe that much. It's really all up to them, in the end. First they have to be able to agree amongst themselves, and learn to compromise. Maybe they can't get along with each other. Not ever. With us there or not.

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