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| Iraq-Jordan | |
| What business does the US have in Iraq? | |
| 2005-07-07 | |
The only rational way to approach this issue is to ask: What business does the United States have in Iraq? If we assume it has no business, a perfectly legitimate position, we should be asking not for a time-table but immediate withdrawal. But if we assume the United States is in Iraq on some business then, surely, we cannot talk of withdrawal in abstraction. Also, any success or failure could then be measured against the goals of that business. Thus the real debate concerns the nature of the business the United States may have in Iraq and the best ways of accomplishing it. Did the United States go to Iraq to seize oil resources and bring oil prices down? If yes, then with oil prices pegged at $60 (Dh220) per barrel compared to $18 (Dh66) before the war, it has failed and better bring its troops back immediately. Or did the United States go to Iraq only to topple Saddam Hussain and to finish the job which Bush Senior had left unfinished? If that is the case, the United States has succeeded because Saddam and almost all his henchmen are under lock and key. Again, the United States can declare that it achieved its goal and bring its soldiers home. US President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, however, claim the US-led coalition is in Iraq on an altogether more ambitious mission, of which the toppling of Saddam Hussain was only the first phase. That mission is aimed at transforming Iraq from a despotic system into a vibrant democracy. The plan is a part of a broader strategy to bring the Middle East into the global political and economic mainstream. The US-led intervention in Iraq and earlier in Afghanistan, however, is not the result of starry-eyed altruism but the fruit of enlightened self-interest. Today, the single deadliest threat to the US national security comes from Islamist terrorism which, although it has sympathisers in the West, uses the Middle East as its main support base. Terrorism cannot be defeated and eventually uprooted unless it is deprived of the swamps of despotism in which it breeds like deadly mosquitoes. The United States and its allies are beginning to abandon the 60-year or so policy of allying themselves with Arab despots in exchange for cheap oil... | |
| Posted by:BrerRabbit |
| #10 call him an arab and he will behead you with a pencil--he used to be the editor of tehran's leading daily newspaper until the mullahs wanted to liquidate him--he's one of the smartest middle east analysts we have and is on the side of freedom |
| Posted by: SON OF TOLUI 2005-07-07 14:00 |
| #9 Are you sure he is Arab? he is from Iran so could be Persian. |
| Posted by: Hupomoque Spoluter7949 2005-07-07 13:26 |
| #8 Good read. Reasoned discourse. Wish the MSM in the US would write more like Amir Taheri. One might conclude that word merchants of US MSM are either dumb or lazy or both. Drain the swamp ASAP. |
| Posted by: John Q. Citizen 2005-07-07 12:50 |
| #7 Thatn looks like a beatle on the lower left. |
| Posted by: Aides Egypti Shipman 2005-07-07 12:43 |
#6 Terrorism cannot be defeated and eventually uprooted unless it is deprived of the swamps of despotism in which it breeds like deadly mosquitoes. And we need to stay the course, and keep a full supply of "bug repellant" handy. This was an appropriate analogy.  I hope most Islamoslimes will "come back" in the next life as some sort of insect that is deastined to be stepped on. CRUNCH. Then eaten by a housecat as a mid-afternoon snack. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-07-07 11:56 |
| #5 Actually, Amir Taheri is an iranian, anti-mullah to his core and quite well informed on ME policies. You can read many of his column fo free at : http://www.benadorassociates.com/ |
| Posted by: frenchfregoli 2005-07-07 11:44 |
| #4 I always liked this guy. One of the few arabs that don't wander around, zombie-like, muttering everything is the joooos and the US's fault. |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-07-07 10:31 |
| #3 I thought even this page made good sense.... |
| Posted by: Shiipman 2005-07-07 09:34 |
| #2 big jim, do you read Taheri often? He's made sense for a very long time. |
| Posted by: rkb 2005-07-07 09:34 |
| #1 Read the full story at the link, he starts to actually make sense towards the end of his article. Imagine that, an arab that actually makes sense! Never thought I'd live long enough to see that. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2005-07-07 09:31 |