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2006-08-25 Iraq

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Posted by Nimble Spemble 2006-08-25 10:59|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 That poll needs some breakdowns, ironically by the groupings that would exist if Iraqis *didn't* favor unity. For example, what do Kurds and Sunnis think about segregation in their areas?

Posted by Anonymoose 2006-08-25 12:04|| 2006-08-25 12:04|| Front Page Top

#2 I believe that sticking together is the best shot they've got. Because they are all Muslims, but they have different beliefs, they will be forced to produce a semi-secular government that allows for differing and competing beliefs. That really IS the basis of a republic. No one group gets absolute control but rather it is shared among competing desires.

What makes our government work is competing power structures - executive, judicial and representative. Absolute power corrupts absolutely - but if you have the strongest of the strong, the best of the best, and the most ruthless of the most ruthless competing against each other for power within the same government - no one group can gain absolute control and they will keep each other "honest".

That's the brilliance of our system. And it will work for the Iraqis too. I don't like our current crop of Dems - but the republicans aren't much better. Their fighting against each other is about the only thing that keeps those with power concerned with The People(TM).

Posted by 2b 2006-08-25 12:21|| 2006-08-25 12:21|| Front Page Top

#3 I don't trust any poll coming out of Iraq. How do they do the poll? Do you trust that random Iraqis will feel comfortable honestly sharing their opinions with random guys who knock on the door, or some stranger who calls on the phone and asks what they think about the government? This information seems basically useless to me.

Posted by WhitecollarRedneck 2006-08-25 12:25|| 2006-08-25 12:25|| Front Page Top

#4 Seventy-eight percent strongly disagree or disagree with the idea of segregating Iraqis according to religious or ethnic sects.

... as this would put a severe crimp in any further expansion of their one growth industry, the manufacture of IEDs.

That's the brilliance of our system. And it will work for the Iraqis too.

2b, while I have my doubts that democracy will ever take root in Iraq, it still remains the best alternative. Partitioning would most likely result in the absolute worst possible outcome, namely, three more theocratic autocracies in the Middle East. This must be avoided at all costs.

Posted by Zenster 2006-08-25 12:34|| 2006-08-25 12:34|| Front Page Top

#5 Zenster - I agree. But I think that they have a good shot of making it - though it is too soon to predict and it may just be wishful thinking on my part. Ironically - I think Iran and Turkey and the others will push the competing Iraqi factions into each others arms rather than split them apart.

They really do need each other. And just like our own states with very different beliefs, needs and power structures - together they make each other stronger than if they stood alone and it is much harder for one group to rise to power and corrupt the whole system.

Posted by 2b 2006-08-25 13:44|| 2006-08-25 13:44|| Front Page Top

#6 together they make each other stronger

While I generally concur with you, 2b, the above represents a significant degree of overly-optimistic cultural projection upon your own part. However correct your conjecture usually is or should be, I do not feel it applies to the Arab model.

Cynical though it may be, most Islamic cultures exhibit such a crippling degree of xenophobia that the typically valid (Western) concept of "strength through diversity" simply does not and cannot apply. As proof of this I submit how even a shared religion is insufficient to keep Sunnis and Shiites from each others' throats and, instead, is the direct cause of their III (Interminable Internecine Infighting).

It is why I consider such divisive behavior to be a critical hallmark of Muslim rapacity and maintain such extremely low expectations for any eventual rehabilitation of their culture. By this exact same reasoning I daily become increasingly convinced that the only permanent resolution of Islamist terrorism will require a nuclear Muslim Holocaust.

Posted by Zenster 2006-08-25 14:04|| 2006-08-25 14:04|| Front Page Top

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