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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJoe Biden was right about #Iraq
Remember this?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/world/americas/30iht-letter.1.6894357.html
"The idea, as in Bosnia, is to maintain a united Iraq by decentralizing it, giving each ethno-religious group - Kurd, Sunni Arab and Shiite Arab - room to run its own affairs, while leaving the central government in charge of common interests," Biden and Gelb wrote in their opinion piece on May 1, 2006. "We could drive this in place with irresistible sweeteners for the Sunnis to join in, a plan designed by the military for withdrawing and redeploying American forces, and a regional nonaggression pact."
The proposal acknowledges forthrightly what a growing number of Middle East experts say is plain as day: Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis are not moving toward reconciliation; they still haven't managed to get an oil law passed, and de facto ethnic cleansing is under way as Sunnis flee largely Shiite neighborhoods and towns, and vice versa.
The proposal acknowledges forthrightly what a growing number of Middle East experts say is plain as day: Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis are not moving toward reconciliation; they still haven't managed to get an oil law passed, and de facto ethnic cleansing is under way as Sunnis flee largely Shiite neighborhoods and towns, and vice versa.
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Joe Biden was right about #Iraq (Original Post)
Pryderi
Jun 2014
OP
elleng
(131,264 posts)1. Yes, as I posted that Steve Clemons suggested.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1110363
AND DUers and others NOT interested in a hawkish president might want to think about Joe.
AND DUers and others NOT interested in a hawkish president might want to think about Joe.
Pryderi
(6,772 posts)6. Sorry I didn't see your earlier post. n/t
elleng
(131,264 posts)8. Thanks, I am too,
had hoped for more attention, but its 'out there' now.
Uncle Joe
(58,482 posts)2. Kicked and recommended.
Thanks for the thread, Pryderi.
Warpy
(111,407 posts)3. Biden is right. What we see as ethnic cleansing
is people sorting themselves out. Whether Iraq stays a country with a weak central government and strong local ones is anybody's guess. It does seem that it will break into 3 parts along strictly tribal and sectarian lines. Perhaps it should have been allowed to do so decades ago.
tularetom
(23,664 posts)4. But he isn't inevitable
And he doesn't have a PAC that's "ready" for him.
Sorry Joe, being right isn't enough anymore. You just have to kiss the right asses.
rug
(82,333 posts)5. I'll gladly live under Sharia law if it bans hashtags.
cali
(114,904 posts)7. He shouldn't get the credit for that. Credit should go to Peter Galbraith who was the
first to propose in great detail why 3 separate nations would be a more workable solution. And Galbraith is far more of an expert than Biden.
Savannahmann
(3,891 posts)9. I also remember a lot of talking at the time...
Guys, taking quotes from politicians is a game anyone can play. Most politicians have been for and against just about everything at one time or another.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1002/10/lkl.01.html
BIDEN: Well, you've heard me say that for the last 10 years. I think it's the -- it's a big country. It has nuclear weapons that are able to be deployed. It has a real significant minority of radicalized population. It is -- it is not a completely functional democracy in the sense we think about it. And so it's -- it -- that's my greatest concern.
I am very optimistic about -- about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You're going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer. You're going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government.
I spent -- I've been there 17 times now. I go about every two months -- three months. I know every one of the major players in all of the segments of that society. It's impressed me. I've been impressed how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences.
I am very optimistic about -- about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You're going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer. You're going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government.
I spent -- I've been there 17 times now. I go about every two months -- three months. I know every one of the major players in all of the segments of that society. It's impressed me. I've been impressed how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences.
A lot of us remember a lot of quotes.