The West played a crucial role handing Shi'ites the bulk of power in Iraq. The West played a crucial role supporting the Mujahadeen to overthrow the Russians in Afghanistan.
Will we end up regretting the former as much as the latter? Are both examples of a failure of strategic analysis?
England wins by slightly less than expected, Ratings 24th May
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1st TestEnglandvNew ZealandPre-rating1220.4871.8Form-15.2+13.2Expected
MarginEngland by 224 runsActual MarginEngland by 170 runsPost-rating1215.0
877.4
A ...
3 hours ago
6 comments:
Simply put, Iraq has become a living hell, with suicide bombing killing hundreds each week. You can't really say that one should be regretted more than the other. In both cases, we have created utter tragedies.
yes on both counts. tactical advantage winning over strategic intent every time. it's a shame, we went to kabul a couple of times before the Russkies invaded - a very interesting place.
The interesting thing I found in Kabul were hordes of Middle class American college students arriving there to smoke hashish, and it being offered to me on the streets by seven year-old boys.
But that was a long while ago.
Not that I'm up on my Arab terminology, but isn't comparing the Mujahiddeen and the Shi'ites a little like somebody comparing followers of David Koresh to Roman Catholics (ie, comparing an small and fanatical minority to a substantial population demographic)?
If you're referring to the democratic process in Iraq which inevitably favours the Shi'ite majority, then I'm still not sure what the problem is. Saddam's dictatorship was a true tyranny of the minority, but democracy need not be a tyranny of the majority. Countless examples around the world show that it can be done peacefully.
Democracy in Iraq has the proverbial snowballs chance in hell/Iraq.
Im curious, please provide examples of such democratic success in countries with such deep religious and ethnic divides? Can some one please fill my glass...
My comparison was selfish, from a western strategic point of view.
Because we were obsessed with fighting russia at every turn, we supported the muj who became the taliban (to simplify a little I admit) and a breeding ground, ironically, for anti-liberal-west hatred. And ossama.
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