Thoughts about the Iraqi election - why are they against it?

[freeryde13 0]

all right ...it's like this.... the insurgants used to have the power in iraq because ...humm ... we supported them and saddam hussain AND gave them weapons of mass destruction to use against the iranians who are of course...shites. we supported saddam because he was giving us oil and because he was killing the iranians with the wmds we gave them and taught them how to make. so they are fighting to keep the power they fear losing in democratic elections. so the u.s. wants the shites in power now....and we are getting support from ...... the iranians who are shites and are telling all the shites in iraq to vote in a shite government who would be loyal to iran. which of course is what we want...well sort of. that might make the whole attack iran next thing difficult .... but we'll just figure that out later.

what was the question again? oh yeah... so maybe the insurgants are fighting because they figure in a few years from now the u.s. will be backing them again to fight the evil iranian shites. but how are the iraqi shites gonna vote? there is no list of candidates and there fore no one campaining. because the insurgants keep killing the candidates. but we need an election by the 30th so we can get out. so we are gonna give them democrocy damn it. theyed better vote for some one and do it quick.

so i guess i don't know why they're fighting. i might wanna fight the guy that took my father to a prison and put him on a leash naked, maybe greed, maybe they really are the true biblical sense of pure pointless evil.

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people see me as a challenge to their balance

[Michele 1]

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That said, from a suitably paranoid (Islamic violent fundamentalist) point of view, what is in fact a placatory written answer to a question can be inflated into a "statement of intent"! Particularly when the object is NOT to study the history in an impartial way, but to inflame hatred.

Agreed...'twas more inflammatory than reality.

While I recognize that the Balfour letter was to placate Rothschild, and while I agree wholeheartedly that the State of Israel, had there been real intent to create such, would not have had such a struggle and it would've been earlier, the Balfour letter does indeed inflame the muslim fundis.

The whole region is fascinating and so very complex. The interweaving of the history, the Ottoman Empire, the local culture (allies and enemies), westernization, and the Wahhabist fundi's is so tightly bound together it is sometimes hard to see where one starts and the other leaves off.

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[miked10270 0]

Hi Michelle,

Yeah... If it were simple then there wouldn't be a Nobel Peace Prize the size of Norway waiting for the guy who finds the solution.

The problems of the Mid-East (and indeed most of the worlds perennial trouble spots) lie in the "Empire" history & mentality where some "superpower" would draw lines to demarcate borders of countries of which they had no understanding and only temporary control.

With the exception of the US-Canada border (where the ethnicity is effectively indistinguishable) I can't think of a single straight line on a map that hasn't caused grief.

Mike.

PS. Thinking about it, I suppose interfering in a foreign nations affairs is a bit like stepping into the middle of a domestic dispute between husband & wife.... No matter how much good you do, you just KNOW they're gonna turn 'round and blame you at the first opportunity!

Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable.

Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.