Do they honestly believe that the US will release Saddam back into power?

I want to also stress the importance of winning this war. Reason is, look at Afganistan after the Russians left... turned into islamic land.

Err. You mean Islamic fundamentalist land.?


But what are we trying to do to Iraq, make it like Turkey?

What's wrong with Turkey? I need specifics, man!

What will end up happening to make everybody happy(Kurds, Shias, and Sunnis) will be to break the country up into 3 separate entities with roughly the borders of where they already occupy greater than 50% of the population.

No Liberator, it is most definitely not that simple. First of all, that makes the assumption that each faction has contiguous regions in which they are a minority. Try putting that one on the table in the occupied territories; it would mean Israel would have to concede Jerusalem (or at least the old city) and that isn't going to happen. Secondly, it relies on whoever does not get the south of the country to be OK with passing up all of the oil wealth there. Also not going to happen, as that's what started this shitstorm to begin with.

redmenace wrote:I want to also stress the importance of winning this war. Reason is, look at Afganistan after the Russians left... turned into islamic land.

NB: it's worth pointing out that Afghanistan has / was in a state of constant war since, well, the British left. The Northern Alliance's battles vs the Taliban after the Russians left being an obvious example.


NB2: Turkey is a democratic country with a majority Islamic population.... it can be served up as the model for working democracy in Muslim countries.

NB3: Turkey is also one of the reasons why Iraq won;t be broken up (at least, not voluntarily) - the Turks fear an independent Kurdistan would split the Kurdish part of their own territory off to join said nation.

A secondary issue is the likely wish of the US to have a strong (ish) nation to act as a buffer and possible strategic base vs Syria and Iran. (the US presumably sees Iraq as a key strategic base, given that the Saudi people have always been antsy about Us presence in the country, something which itself has inspired terrorism as Saudi Arabia of course contaisn the holy city of Mecca / Makkah)

You mean everybody's favorite Islamic terrorist, Bin Ladden?

He's part of that group, mad at us about the Gulf War, IIRC.

Moonsword wrote:You mean everybody's favorite Islamic terrorist, Bin Ladden?

He's part of that group, mad at us about the Gulf War, IIRC.

More than Bin-Ladin, though.

To be fair, I should also point out that the US 'infidel' troops in Saudi Arabia is at least partially a pretext to claim a justified cause and raise rightuous ire.... it's highly unlikely the harcore terrorists would stop if US troops did pull out (although the more 'sane' - remember we're talking relative terms of sanity - might use that as a pretext to claim victory and quit. Big maybe)

Yes, you're right. Some of them would quit but others wouldn't rest until the 'Great Satan' is erased from the world. And if I remember correctly, we (other than Americans on the hajj) don't go into Mecca or try to.