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2004-04-03 Arabia

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Posted by tipper 2004-04-03 11:39:38 AM|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Not sure that I agree with the "deliberate deception" angle, but the geopolitical reasons for hitting Iraq are the very ones I have been touting since we went in.

Posted by OldSpook 2004-04-03 12:18:24 PM|| 2004-04-03 12:18:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 I think the guy's got it almost figured out, though he misses the biggest reason for the pre-war emphasis on Saddam's WMD: our desire to get the U.N. signed up.

There's a pattern I've noticed since Bush began turning the public's attention toward Iraq back in mid-2002.

On the one hand, people who start out with an inherent distrust or dislike for Bush have an extremely difficult time figuring out what the hell we're doing over in Iraq; they can't grasp even the most obvious of the ways in which ending Saddam's regime helps move the WoT forward, even to the point where they whine that it's a "distraction."

And on the other hand, people who start out with the assumption that Bush is a competent executive who knows what he wants to achieve, and is taking steps calculated to achieve it, seem to have very little difficulty discerning the overall strategy.

During the run-up to the war last year, I set out to see how many ways I could think of that "doing" Saddam would help the war against Islamic totalitarianism. I set out to see if I could list five ways, but at the end of an hour I'd jotted down more than a dozen. I still update the list every now and then, and I'm now working on Reason #36.

Not hard at all, really.

As for Bush's not telling the American public exactly why we needed to go to Iraq, it seems to me very simple: anything he were to say to us, would also be heard throughout the Muslim world.

Just as in boxing, it's bad form to telegraph your punches.

Posted by Dave D. 2004-04-03 12:41:20 PM|| 2004-04-03 12:41:20 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Iraq is like North Africa in Operation Torch in WW2. It is a place to start. We are not ready to go into Saudi, so Iraq is the site to begin the ME terrorist breakup. The enemy knows it and is putting a lot of resources into Iraq to make us fail.

Dr. George Friedman is right on about Saudi Arabia. THEY are the REAL enemy we are fighting. The petrodollars we give them are transformed into explosives that they give back. That is the long and the short of it.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2004-04-03 12:43:49 PM|| 2004-04-03 12:43:49 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 I also figured this out, back in May or June, and sent a congratulatory email to President Bush on his unbelievably cunning plan. Of course, I never got an answer...

Most people just can't seem to figure out that Iraq is the key to the entire Middle East. It sits at the top of the Persian Gulf, touches all the major players, has enough oil to act as a spoiler to OPEC's shenanigans, and has a tremendous military infrastructure that can be used as the basis for attacks from Libya to Pakistan. Combined with Afghanistan, it puts virtually every Middle Eastern country in a vise:
Iran between Iraq and Afghanistan
Pakistan between Afghanistan and India
Syria between Iraq, Turkey, Israel, and the Med
Jordan between Iraq and Israel
Saudi Arabia between Iraq, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and LOTS of empty sand

We've already seen changes in behavior in Libya, Qatar, several of the United Arab Emirates' sheikdoms, Saudi Arabia (although limited, and one step back for every two forward), Syria, Iran, Pakistan, Bahrain, Yemen, and Oman. Some of the changes are minute, but the people on the top are beginning to understand that change HAS to come - that we demand it, and we won't be satisfied with cosmetics.

Can you imagine the impact a democratic Iraq would have, with an indigenous army of a half-million men, with five or six fully-manned US Air Force bases and a couple of Army and one Marine division on hand? Could you imagine what would happen if the next diplomatic coup would be the establishment of a full naval basing structure in one of the nearby African countries, such as Tanzania (Dar es Salaam), or if we helped the Somaliland tribes firmly establish control of their area, and base half a fleet or more at Djibouti?

The "game" is up. The only thing left to do is grind down the last of the players until they're removed. This doesn't mean the war is "over" - we're about at the place now where we were at Guadalcanal and Torch during World War II. We've stopped the advance. Now the long, miserable slog to rid the world of every bastion of the enemy begins. But the expansion is over, and the rats know it.

Posted by Old Patriot 2004-04-03 4:14:42 PM|| [http://users.codenet.net/mweather/default.htm] 2004-04-03 4:14:42 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Yup. And I'll bet it wasn't very hard to figure it out, either, was it?

Posted by Dave D. 2004-04-03 5:40:04 PM|| 2004-04-03 5:40:04 PM|| Front Page Top

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