Quote:
Originally posted by sgtclub
I don't think we can establish a legitimate government without holding the elections. I agree with you on authority, but for what it's worth, the Iraqi president was on MTP this week and said that the Iraqis security forces will be fully up and running within months, not years. Seems like a stretch from the reports I've read, but maybe he's right.
|
Elections may be necessary, but they certainly are not sufficient. And if the underlying problem is that Sunnis do not want to live in an Iraq in which the majority Shi'ites exert control commensurate with their population, holding a vote is not going to convince Sunnis to change their minds.*
Meanwhile, we've been hearing sunny reports about the Iraqi security forces for months and months, and it's all been a load of crap. But it's important that I not say this too loudly, since the insurgents might find out.
*
eta: Per Slave's post above, Krauthammer says: "If Iraq's Sunni Arabs - barely 20% of the population - decide that they cannot abide giving up their 80 years of minority rule, which ended with 30 years of Saddam Hussein's atrocious tyranny, then tough luck. They forfeit their chance to shape and to participate in the new Iraq." Um, wrong. The Sunnis are forfeiting their chance to shape the new Iraq -- they're doing their shaping with AK-47s and RPGs instead of ballots.
