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Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
So the French and Germans were pushing for the UN to run things, but weren't willing to ante anything up for the privilege? I don't think so. Please find me a cite for that. You're back to the tried-and-true tactic of disparaging the French for being French. It's rhetorically effective, and not wholly unfair, but pretending at this point that we had to do things the way we did them because there was no alternative is a crock.
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Assuming arguendo that the 150,000 or so troops we had in Iraq post war was an adequate number, how many troops do you think the French and Germans, collectively, would have sent had the UN "run" things? Answer: zero to a deminis amount. It still would have been overwhelmingly US and UK troops doing the lifting. The primary reason why the French (1) opposed the war and (2) wanted the UN control post war efforts, was (A) to limit their debt exposure and complicity with the Saddam regime and (B) further their "we are the balance to the US" foreign policy.
The Germans rationale was a bit different - their opposition to the war was entirely political.
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Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop Who is opposed to the concept of democracy?
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(1) international radical islam (including but not limited to AQ and (2) the Baathists - in other words, the same people who are shooting at us.
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Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop The Kurds most of all, and they're not shooting at us.
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That's because they essentially have autonomy. Go figure.
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Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop Sadr is using us as a foil to gain popular support.
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Sadr is finished. He has lost popular support. In a matter of time and if he's lucky, he will be a footnote in history.
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Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop To the extent that the insurgents have popular support, I submit that it is because they are perceived to be resisting a foreign occupier. The UN would not have quite the same problems.
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And I submit that that you have been watching too much Al Jazeera. Yes, this is the propoganda that the organizers of the insurgency are putting forth. But again, I urge you to read the fucking intercepted letter. This is part of their strategy to win the hearts and minds.
