I may be wrong

Submitted by Ed Sparks (United States), Nov 20, 2003 at 18:19

Mr. Pipes: You make an excellent argument but it bothers me a bit.
Are you not proposing exactly the same thing that Britain proposed in the Balfour Doctrine and in fact imposed on most of the middle east countries after WWI? After all Iraq and Saudi Arabia did not exist until the 30's. If I remember my history correctly every country in the middle east was placed under a "strong man" selected by Britain to run the country. The strong man then promptly began burdering his opponents. Remember, today the Saud family is not the strongest family in Saudi Arabia in Mecca. Another family rules there.

Iraq, today, has at least three areas with three different strong family or sect rulers. These area divisions are to the south of Baghdad, the Baghdad area and the northern part of Baghdad.

To the south the area was inhabited by people who largely lived in the huge marsh areas. Saddam, in his quest to destroy these people, embarked on a campaign to actually drain the marsh and eliminate those peoples' way of life. To the north the Kurds largely control the area and actually should have their own country.

Any strong man we appoint will eventually attempt to destroy both the southern and northern civilizations that are quite different from the one that exists in central Iraq.

It would be far better for us to establish up to three large bases, north, central and south, maintain peace and allow the various areas to divide and establish their own areas of interest. Any other course puts us right back into the ruling strong man with his killers one the loose.

Final question: Why have we not destroyed every one of Saddam Husseins palaces and the Saddam Mosque that is under construction? Thanks for listening.
Ed Sparks

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