But, could the Iraqi government last even a week?

Submitted by MelM (United States), Oct 25, 2006 at 19:37

Can the Iraqi gov. survive much longer even wtih the U.S. guarding it? And, if we pulled back into the desert, could it last even a week? Things are in a sorry state indeed: al-Sadr running the health ministry and stealing the medical supplies?

Here's a sobering and, in some ways, surprising look at the situation on the ground in Iraq from John Burns of the New York Times who's returned to Baghdad. This report is 15min long and starts 15min into this video of the Oct. 20 Charlie Rose Show. (The first 15min is a report from Thomas Ricks of the Washington Post and looks at some of the solutions being discussed.) There are several show-videos available and you"ll have to find the correct "play button"; it's a bit confusing. I didn't see how to fast-forward the video but maybe you can figure it out. The Ricks report is interesting as well so it really won't be a waste of time to view it. I have found John Burns to be a perceptive and rational observer who can see well beyond the "body count" mentality that's so common.

About Rickses report, I note that the considerations of various people seem to stop at "civil war" or "war in the region." Has the altruistic-war perspective now become so ingrained that we can't ask questions about U.S. security needs.? As I tried to point out in my post about "catastrophic failure", we must look at our own needs. There was a comment here advocating that the Iraqis vote on whether we stay or go. Pox on that! We must do what we need to do.

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