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Strongman

Reader comment on item: Iraq: "Could a New Strongman Help?"

Submitted by Mitzi Alvin (United States), Nov 24, 2006 at 15:02

The one thing worse than tyranny is anarchy. One only has to think back to the French Revolution. Not long after the "tyranny" of the monachy was destroyed, than the little fellow with the big ideas (Napolean) made his coup. Everyone was sick of the The Terror, including the terrorists. The sequence of events in Iraq has been exactly as I predicted in the paper I sent to you, The Culture of Humiliation: A defensive Muslim mentality created the insurgency which in turn fomented sectarian violence and the Jihadists who spurred these clashes are enjoying the ensuing misery because it embarrasses the Unbeliever, i.e. the Coalition.The problem is that one cannot appoint a strongman. He must derive from a power base. What that is in Iraq remains to be seen. It must be fought out on the ground. U.S. intervention will simply prolong the agony. Whatever will happen will happen whether we leave in six months or ten years, except that many more American dollars and American lives will be lost to the (yes, it's a cliche, but apt) quagmire.

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Reader comments (17) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
creeping vines [1160 words]cassanoJan 6, 2007 23:2271923
Voltaire On Iraq [27 words]G.GlazerNov 26, 2006 23:4067439
No contradiction [37 words]OctavioNov 27, 2006 14:2067439
Get out of Iraq ASAP [19 words]OctavioNov 25, 2006 16:3167330
Strongman [180 words]Mitzi AlvinNov 24, 2006 15:0267195
Allawi?!! Been there done that. [116 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Francis BrookeNov 24, 2006 11:3367174
"Could a New Strongman Help?" [198 words]Johanna StephensNov 24, 2006 10:3967163
Perfection [83 words]Julian ZedNov 24, 2006 10:1967160
Why didn't Iraqis vote for Allawi? [34 words]Roger McKinneyNov 22, 2006 11:4766970
It's all about the Middle East [77 words]Mike GNov 18, 2006 08:0466491
Democracy and Iraq [388 words]VinodguptNov 16, 2006 14:5066339
Dodge City [184 words]JoeNov 16, 2006 14:4466337
Democracy? That is too optimistic [365 words]mike bitNov 15, 2006 21:5366267
Rethinking Iraq strategy [310 words]DennisNov 13, 2006 13:3766006
Power Share Will Resolve Conflict In Iraq [78 words]skmillerNov 13, 2006 10:5765990
How about a little responsibility... ? [29 words]MikeNov 13, 2006 03:3865972
iraq [336 words]robert fusfeldNov 12, 2006 11:1265918

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