Stay the Course?

Submitted by Maurice Picow (Israel), Oct 24, 2006 at 17:29

American foreign policy, often misguided and inefficient, has really gotten it's 'lunch eaten' on this debacle, now referred by many as Vietnam II. While not for the same reason, the sad results are similar, although the overall damage (no Agent Orange this time) and body count is still much lower than Vietnam I. By redeploying U.S. troops outside of major population areas will save American lives, it won't solve Iraq's problem which is a virtual sectarian civil war between rival Shiite and Sunni Muslim militia groups.

Placing the U.S. forces in the desert, far and away from where the carbombings, random shootings and other mayhem is occuring reminds me of an American made movie starring Kurt Russel called Escape from L.A., in which a futuristic post WWIII society has sealed off a crime and anarchy filled Los Angeles, letting it's inhabitants kill each other off. Yes, Iraq government (if one can refer to this entity as such) needs to take the responsibility of solving its own problems, without American military presence. How this will eventually done is still up in the air, as this government, like the corrupt Dhiem regime in the former South Vietnam, seems far from able to do so.

The only way Iraq can have a unified and stable government is to make it a secular one similar to that which Kemal Attaturk created in post WWI Turkey. A sectarian government, such as the one in Lebanon, will definitely not work, as it does not in Lebanon. Dividing the country into 3 smaller republics, Kurdish, Sunni, and Shiite, will not work either as it will be weaker than one unified one, and ripe for domination by neighboring countries, including Turkey and Iran.

Saddam Hussien's regime may be history, but an even worse one could one day rise in it's stead.

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