America's successes or failures in Iraq

Submitted by Maurice Picow (Israel), Nov 12, 2006 at 14:36

America's successes or failures in Iraq depends on how you look at it. True, Saddam Hussein and his 'Lovely Boys" Udaei and Qusai have been eliminated (Saddam's turn comes up in a month or so); but despite this, the present situation in this war-torn land is far from satisfactory. The Iraqi people have never had a democratic government (and neither have most Middle Eastern counties, for that matter); and in the end, whichever faction is the strongest will win out. At present, it appears that the Shiites will eventually prevail as they have help from their 'big brother' in Iran. Now that a few 'changes' have occured in the U.S. Congress, a strategic re-thinking may result in many changes concerning America's involvement there.

Trying to compare Iraq to Vietman is also a non-starter, as the Communist government in Hanoi, though very tough, has never been crazy (like that other Communist government in North Korea). In the end, what happened in Vietnam has not been so terribly bad; and an American flag flies there once again, above the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.

Iraq desperately needs to sort itself out. The daily killings there will not help heal the very deep emotional wounds that many Iraqis now have.

The U.S. realizes that the War on (Islamic) terror is being largely fought in both Iraq and Afghanistan. If U.S. forces are pulled out of both counties, this will give a clear signal to the Jihadists to try this method in other countries as well, such as Egypt, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, etc. Yes, in this case, Richard Nixon's "Domino Theory" is very true. The only question is how to win?

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