Iraq....

[DemocratSinceBirth]

If it was up to the Kurds we could stay forever....


If it was up to the Shias we could leave tomorrow as long as we left them in charge......


It seems that the Sunnis who comprise approximately twenty percent of the Iraqi population are the most aggrieved because they were in a position of power under Saddam and now they aren't...


Can the Sunnis be co-opted or placated and how?

[enigma000]

1. Sunnis need a role in the government

Either way the constitution vote goes, the Sunni have to participate in December's elections. If not, they will remain unrepresented in national affairs.

It is true there is a sizable portion of the Sunni who wish to, once again, dominate Iraq. Remember, the Sunni have been the dominant faction in Iraq under Saddam's Baath party, under the monarchy before it, and even under Ottoman rule going back 5 centuries. It is not a false analogy to compare the Sunni to White South Africans after the fall of Apartheid, or southern slave owners post-civil war.
To some Arab Sunnis (both in Iraq and in the greater Arab world), the Shiites are apostates and the Kurds are sub-human. Placating these people may not be possible.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. Yes

The interesting thing is the Sunnis used to be thought of as the moderates of the Arab world... During the Iraq-Iran War most of the Arab nations with the exception of Libya and Syria supported the Iraqis because of the Sunni affiliation and the fear of the radical Shias...


It's a mess that we can not fix... Containment and incrementalism were better policies...

[enigma000]

3. It will be a mess for a long while

Still, I've gotten to thinking, after seeing the sorry state of Iraq that, inevitably, the Baath state would have collapsed. Not after Saddam was gone, maybe not even under his psycho sons, but a generation or two down the road. And when it imploded, the international community would have been sucked in (unless we are no longer using middle eastern oil then)

Circa 2045 we could have been playing out the same scenario.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. That's A Long Time Away...

Some times kicking the can down the road is the least bad alternative out of a host of bad alternatives...

[enigma000]

5. Good point n/t

[LynnTheDem]

6. Ain't just the Sunnis. 52% Iraqis say attacks on US troops justified.

Poll, March-April 2004, Gallup/CNN/USA Today

LOVE how the m$m has managed to convince so many Americans that it's just the Sunnis and the "Sunni-led insurgency".