Subj : The War Has No Clothes
To   : Angus McLeod
From : Frank Reid
Date : Sat Oct 08 2005 04:16 pm

  Re: The War Has No Clothes
  By: Angus McLeod to Frank Reid on Sat Oct 08 2005 15:28:00

 > So to return to your question: do I want you to fail?  Let me re-phrase
 > it.  Do I want you to successfully train a strong force of fundamentalist
 > Shiites who will at the first opportunity, destroy or thoroughly subjugate
 > the progressive Sunni muslims in Iraq, thus making a political and
 > military union with Iran a real possibility, and jeopardizing the peace
 > and stability of the *entire* middle-east?  Answer:  No.  Do I think some
 > peaceful alternative is possible?  Answer:  No, you've already screwed
 > things up so bad that a bloodbath is inevitable.

First, I applaud your well conceived response.  With the U.S. being Barbados'
single largest trading partner (for import/export of real goods alone, never
mind tourism dollars and flat-out economic aid), it would have been very
short-sighted of your own interests to wish failure upon us.  Like it or not,
we sink or swim together.

Where we diverge is your opinion that Shiites are incapable of embracing
democracy simply because of their religion.  Two-thirds of Rwandans are avid
Roman Catholics, but I would question the validity of comparing Rwanda to
Italy.  In fact, prior to Khomeini's violent revolution in 1979, Iran enjoyed
an extremely progressive culture.  Khomeini squelched secular opposition not
through positive governmental policies, or even by creating religious fervor,
but by executing the opponents of his ideology.  Moderate Shiites fled the
country en masse in fear of their lives, and they remain exiles today.  The
ensuing Iraq-Iran War a year later (led by none other than our favorite Saddam
Hussein) cememted that position of intolerance against Sunni.  In other words,
he and his successors led through fear, intolerance and intimidation
precipitated largely by Saddam's aggression, and not because Shia Islam
endorses intolerance against the Sunni.

In one of my technical training schools in the mid 1970s, one-third of my
classmates were Iranian military.  They were, for the most part, devout
Shiites.  By the same token, they also had personal ambitions of achieving
financial independence, raising families and experiencing what the world could
offer to them culturally.  In other words, they were as "human" as you and I,
and their religion was not an impediment to the hopes and dreams that every
free man enjoys.

Thus, your conclusion is based on the lowest expectations of humanity.  While
there are myriad examples in the region to warrant those expectations, it
completely dismisses the nature of humankind itself to crave freedom.  Yes, the
U.S. (and hopefully others) will need to remain there to steer that process,
but ultimately it will be Iraqi people that create their own democracy.  Every
human wants to be free, and freedom can only be suppressed by allowing an
intolerant minority to enslave its people.  We intend to see that doesn't
happen.  Frankly, if it does, we're all screwed anyway.

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