Originally posted by Sixpence
A total pullout might not be the answer, but we shouldn't be dictating their decisions, we should be letting them decide. It's THEIR country, not ours. What we are doing is close to expansionism, and that is not what our country is about.
I don't disagree with the principle, but we're talking about a country that
doesn't know democracy. Letting them decide? They wouldn't understand the concept of being able to make decisions of that magnitude for themselves.
I was all in favour of toppling Saddam, but saw the campaign as unfinished business from 1991 based on breaches of UN resolutions made at that time. But either the intelligence services CIA/MI6 let us down badly, or Saddam was able to ship out his WMD during the months of UN prevarication. As the latter could have been observed by space satellite, perhaps the former is more likely.
As we have seen, there is a lot of pent up anger in Iraq, a lot of fanaticism... if the US/UK alliance pulled out of Iraq now, the fanatics would gain control and there might even be a civil war, and Iraq would end up with
another tyrant in power. And the whole war effort would have been for nothing. That cannot be allowed to happen.
The US under Bush has made its bed. Now it has to lie in it.
yes - the original Iraqi letter definitely looks like a put up job.