The Iraq Invasion. Leaving aside the WMD issue, was it really worth it?

[danielk]

Look at the context. I made no argument about either giving in or withdrawal. The sentence you quote was in reply to Undesired Walrus who did not believe there was a connection between the London bombings and the invasion of Iraq.

Well OK. I guess I was a bit jumpy yesterday.

But still, I think your "prophylactic terrorism" hypothesis is a bit far-fetched. And even if it were true, the question remains what you would do about it.

 

[Acleron]

Well OK. I guess I was a bit jumpy yesterday.

But still, I think your "prophylactic terrorism" hypothesis is a bit far-fetched. And even if it were true, the question remains what you would do about it.

Sorry, I haven't made any hypotheses. All I have done so far, is link the invasion of Iraq to other atrocities in a cause and effect manner in answer to the OP. If you are asking what to do about it now, that could be a good idea for another thread.

 

[danielk]

Sorry, I haven't made any hypotheses. All I have done so far, is link the invasion of Iraq to other atrocities in a cause and effect manner in answer to the OP.

That's what I meant by "hypothesis".

 

[Acleron]

Ok danielk, then in answer to your question about what to do about it.

My answer would be almost nothing at present. The characters who caused this disaster are still around. Bush will go soon and the incoming POTUS may be more acceptable to Islamists of the more but not most fundamental persuasion. Blair is a peace keeping envoy in the Middle East. To me thats like trying to pacify a tanker full of petrol with incendiary bullets. Until he and his previous UK regime go I cannot see much progress there either.

In situ terrorist groups are almost impossible to dislodge without either concessions (impossible in the present political climate) or by convincing the indigenous people that they are better off without the terrorists. All we can do is hang in to provide Iraq with some sort of stability while we learn an awful lot more about what the Iraqis want. And if it is a religious society with all the crap that comes with it, enable them to do so. I envisage this taking at least a couple of generations.