Please elaborate on your comments! :: Reader comments at Daniel Pipes

Submitted by Steve (United States), Oct 20, 2003 at 00:28

Dr. Pipes:

Since you were one of the writers who convinced me that the war against Saddam was a good idea, I am a little shocked by your statement that the mission is probably going to end in failure and that the US had better withdraw as quickly as possible. Do you mean that we shouldn't have attacked Saddam to begin with? Or just that getting rid of Saddam's hideous regime was the most good we could hope for? Please elaborate on your views in another column.

Steve

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Daniel Pipes replies:

I advocated destroying the Saddam Hussein regime, not spending years, a fortune, and many lives to rebuild the country. Here is my warning from 1991 on the topic, at a time when a debate was raging about the desirability of a U.S. intervention against the Saddam Hussein regime. I wrote about the prospect of U.S. forces occupying Iraq, "with Schwartzkopf Pasha ruling from Baghdad":
It sounds romantic, but watch out. Like the Israelis in southern Lebanon nine years ago, American troops would find themselves quickly hated, with Shi'is taking up suicide bombing, Kurds resuming their rebellion, and the Syrian and Iranian governments plotting new ways to sabotage American rule. Staying in place would become too painful, leaving too humiliating.
from "Why America Can't Save the Kurds." The Wall Street Journal, 11 April 1991, http://www.danielpipes.org/article/209.
DP

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Reader comments (36) on this item

Title	Commenter	Date	Thread
AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! [5 words]	Logan Bennett	Dec 10, 2003 07:12	12585
true [16 words]	slycooper542	Jan 18, 2007 20:54	12585
Not just the necessary thing but the right thing [126 words]	David Barnsdale	Nov 7, 2003 06:33	12101
History provides a clue [105 words]	Phil Bramley	Oct 29, 2003 18:26	12015
Good, Fast, Cheap -- Pick any two [205 words]	btk2	Oct 26, 2003 22:20	11953
hiding the truth, aren't you? [129 words]	Yuval brandstetter	Oct 22, 2003 07:58	11882
unclear [127 words]	michael rosenbaum	Oct 20, 2003 20:49	11858
But there ARE good reasons for being there [151 words]	Dughall Halliday	Oct 20, 2003 05:08	11851
Are Iraqis really capable of running Iraq right now? [212 words]	David E	Oct 20, 2003 02:57	11850
Please elaborate on your comments! [88 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes	Steve	Oct 20, 2003 00:28	11848
Let Iraqis run Iraq [26 words]	Jim Herrin	Oct 20, 2003 00:06	11847
answer to your suggestion, "Turm Iraq over to Iraqis" [199 words]	Ann	Oct 19, 2003 23:11	11845
Let Iraqis run part of Iraq [128 words]	Boris Galinsky	Oct 19, 2003 17:05	11844
Analysis cannot be universalised [83 words]	Praveen Bose	Oct 19, 2003 12:15	11841
Referendum is the perfect mechanism [453 words]	John Hadjisky	Oct 19, 2003 01:33	11837
Disappointed by this article [153 words]	Boris Frenkel	Oct 19, 2003 00:44	11836
Give the Iraqis room to run [143 words]	Glenn	Oct 19, 2003 00:32	11835
No easy way out [286 words]	Daniel Too	Oct 18, 2003 05:48	11833
Double bind [55 words]	john W. mcginley	Oct 18, 2003 00:37	11831
re pulling out of Iraq [103 words]	phillip baram	Oct 17, 2003 20:47	11829
The secondary reason is the primary reqson,"Sweet Crude" [166 words]	Ken Harris	Oct 17, 2003 15:23	11827
US cannot afford to give up fixing Iraq! [207 words]	Philip Baltzer	Oct 17, 2003 14:07	11826
You said it ! [55 words]	R.Ingals	Oct 17, 2003 01:33	11819
Risk of Saddam and/or Loyalists Returning to Power [40 words]	Dr. Louis Klein	Oct 17, 2003 01:28	11818
You are probably right [280 words]	Tom Pensyl	Oct 17, 2003 00:44	11816
We need to take this a step further - location, location, location [256 words]	Llama	Oct 17, 2003 00:18	11814
What Happened to You!?! [206 words]	Avraham	Oct 17, 2003 00:00	11813
Additional points [234 words]	Scott McCluskey	Oct 16, 2003 23:58	11812
No Democracy in Iraqi Self-Rule [207 words]	Mike Ramirez	Oct 16, 2003 23:51	11811
Singing a different tune [71 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes	Steven Stern	Oct 16, 2003 23:46	11810
What about Saddam? [148 words] w/response from Daniel Pipes	Philip J. Cherry	Oct 16, 2003 23:18	11809
I wonder [37 words]	Forrest	Oct 16, 2003 22:49	11808
Can the Iraqis Govern and Protect Themselves in 6 Months? [145 words]	James in Boise	Oct 16, 2003 21:24	11807
You missed a spot [19 words]	John Davies	Oct 16, 2003 21:13	11806
Governing Iraq [15 words]	Jerry	Oct 16, 2003 20:53	11805
Muslim Opposition to Infidels [327 words]	Peter Lubin	Oct 16, 2003 20:25	11804