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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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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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