Author Topic: Civil War in Iraq? (Read 1896 times)

Hangtime · « **on:** February 22, 2006, 06:06:41 PM »

Now, if wuz a betting man with a strategic stake in the growing conflict between eastern and western civilizations and I wanted to deal the eastern civilization a crippling blow and to solidify my bet on western civilization without a direct east-west confrontation, how would I do it?

Divide the opposing team.. get them at each others throats in the most viscious and elemental way feasable. Of course.

Today, the Mosque of the Gold Dome was bombed.

What a surprise.

Pei · « **Reply #1 on:** February 22, 2006, 06:10:19 PM »

Reprisals have already started. Lets hope somebody can get this under control before the whole thing decends into chaos. Ali al-Sistani may be the best hope for restraining the Shi'a.

Sandman · « **Reply #2 on:** February 22, 2006, 06:16:16 PM »

Like it or not, Iraq was more stable with Hussein than without.

I predict decades of this.

Hangtime · « **Reply #3 on:** February 22, 2006, 06:19:24 PM »

Sunni vs *****ie = Iraq vs Iran.

RAIDER14 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 22, 2006, 06:24:30 PM »

after everything the U.S. did to get that country in order its goin to hell

lasersailor184 · « **Reply #5 on:** February 22, 2006, 06:26:38 PM »

I would post what the real problem is, but some here would construe it as racism.

Dowding · « **Reply #6 on:** February 22, 2006, 06:29:40 PM »

First Iraq was a WMD haven, threatening world peace with biological, chemical and nuclear armageddon via it's undisputed, unshakeable friendship with Al Queada.

Then it was a stable strategic base of operations for projecting power around the region.

Now it's a chaotic battle-ground designed to drag the whole of the middle east into a big quagmire?

Amazing how quickly excuses are dreamt up these days and how equally transitory they prove to be.

Excel1 · « **Reply #7 on:** February 22, 2006, 07:30:27 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Hangtime
Sunni vs *****ie = Iraq vs Iran.

Iraq + Iran = Irate

I think the dislike they have for the West will subdue the dislike they have for each other. And even if it didn't the shia would probably win a civil war anyway, through superior numbers,which probably would not be an unwelcome result in shia Iran.

Gunslinger · « **Reply #8 on:** February 22, 2006, 07:39:51 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Dowding
First Iraq was a WMD haven, threatening world peace with biological, chemical and nuclear armageddon via it's undisputed, unshakeable friendship with Al Queada.

Then it was a stable strategic base of operations for projecting power around the region.

Now it's a chaotic battle-ground designed to drag the whole of the middle east into a big quagmire?

Amazing how quickly excuses are dreamt up these days and how equally transitory they prove to be.

Not that I want to feed your obvious troll....but have you actually read the news today? This actually happened....a VERY holey VERY old Shia holey site was bombed today by suni opratives. There's no reason to make this up.....unless you can conjure up some way out conspiracy theory that nutjobs can get behind.

Yeager · « **Reply #9 on:** February 22, 2006, 08:37:24 PM »

Like it or not, Iraq was more stable with Hussein than without.
====
true but all you had with saddam was sunni violant repression of shi'ites. I say let the shi'ites have some fun with the sunnis then when they just about got each other wiped out we send in the japanese.

eagl · « **Reply #10 on:** February 22, 2006, 08:53:55 PM »

Brutal govt oppression is usually more stable than freedom. Tough. Put 10 lions in 10 separate cages for their whole life and they won't fight, but they're not really lions anymore either.

Plus it's fun to be able to express ethnic and religious hatred by blowing stuff up and killing people. Really fun apparently, judging from the thousands of non-Iraqi griefers traveling to Iraq to blow stuff up and kill people.

Gunslinger · « **Reply #11 on:** February 22, 2006, 09:05:51 PM »

WWII Occupied france was pretty stable as well. At least until those pesky allies invaded.

Sandman · « **Reply #12 on:** February 23, 2006, 01:01:24 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Hangtime
Sunni vs *****ie = Iraq vs Iran.

Hmmm... I seem to recall Iraq sending military hardware over to Iran for safe keeping during the Persian Gulf war. Or am I mistaken?

Thrawn · « **Reply #13 on:** February 23, 2006, 01:05:51 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Sandman
Hmmm... I seem to recall Iraq sending military hardware over to Iran for safe keeping during the Persian Gulf war. Or am I mistaken?

Yeah, some fighters. Then the Iranians said, "Ha ha! We're keeping them as war reperations...*****es.".

tedrbr · « **Reply #14 on:** February 23, 2006, 01:33:41 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Excel1
Iraq + Iran = Irate

I think the dislike they have for the West will subdue the dislike they have for each other. And even if it didn't the shia would probably win a civil war anyway, through superior numbers,which probably would not be an unwelcome result in shia Iran.

Don't kid yourself, I've been there and they have plenty of hate to go around. And it's not just Shia and Sunni, though they be the major players, you've also got the wildcard of the Kurds, which noone else in the region likes or trusts, and Turkomen, and a few Christians, and some other small groups in Iraq. Then there are tribal and clan disputes on top of that, some of which go back many generations. Some of these disputes often result in small wars themselves.

A major Shia uprising against the Sunni may set off all their neighbors to the south and west who are mostly Sunni. They may find an ally in the Iranian Shia, but they are Persian, not Arab, so that throws a wrench in the works.

Then there's the economic equation: a Civil War, or multi-faceted war in the Persian Gulf will tank the U.S. economy, and the economies of several other countries such as Japan, and a few in Europe.

Iraq may have been under dictatoral rule, but it was at least stable and contained at the time, as well as being the most secular arab nation...then....now it's well on its way to being a nation under strict Islamic law and very likely Civil War.

Trying to invoke democratic rule in that secularly and triabally divided nation was a huge mistake. Firing 400,000 Iraqi military personnel after the Invasion was a second huge mistake. Those that did not become the core of the insurgency have turned to organized crime, kidnapping for ransom, extortion, and black market operations. U.S. State Department has been screwing up by the numbers pretty regularly for a while now.