Good Read: Iraqis didn't follow the Arab advice

[Pennstate]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,482-641196,00.html

 

[HappyPuppy]

Good read. If we can only get more to believe.

 

[RyanM]

What I found most interesting about this article is the following:

Amir Taheri, an Iranian, is the author of The Cauldron ? The Middle East Behind the Headlines

If the under-25 population of Iran, composing 50% of the population, sees what happened in Iraq, and realize they're living under a despot and could seize power, perhaps we'll start to see a domino effect among middle eastern nations.

I find it fascinating that the very fear we had with communism; IE, the domino effect, engulfing more and more nations with the "Red Scourge," could actually end up tipping the entire opposite direction in the Middle East, bringing about a rise in Democracies.

Of course, I'm being overly optimistic here. But it still is a remote possibility.

 

[prontospyder]

Good article. An interesting quote here:

The Iraqis did not wish to suffer the fate of the Palestinians, that is to say to die in large numbers for decades so that other Arabs, safe in their homes, would feel good about themselves. The Iraqis know that had the Palestinians not listened to their Arab brethren, they would have had a state in 1947, as decided by the United Nations Security Council. The Iraqis know that each time the Palestinians became heroic to please other Arabs they lost even more.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: MachFive
What I found most interesting about this article is the following:

Amir Taheri, an Iranian, is the author of The Cauldron ? The Middle East Behind the Headlines

If the under-25 population of Iran, composing 50% of the population, sees what happened in Iraq, and realize they're living under a despot and could seize power, perhaps we'll start to see a domino effect among middle eastern nations.

I find it fascinating that the very fear we had with communism; IE, the domino effect, engulfing more and more nations with the "Red Scourge," could actually end up tipping the entire opposite direction in the Middle East, bringing about a rise in Democracies.

Of course, I'm being overly optimistic here. But it still is a remote possibility.

It's not the opposite. It's pretty much the same. People overthrowing fascists.

 

[RyanM]

Yes, but during the cold war, they were replaced with Communist regimes headed by - You guessed it - Despots.

It was a case of "Meet the new boss - Same as the old boss."

 

[rudder]

The bad thing is I heard on the news that in Egypt there were something like 7000 people still wanting to go to Iraq to fight the coalition infidels. They were convinced that it was a religious war and that the Christians should be driven out. This report coming after the images of cheering in downtown baghdad.

 

[Alistar7]

Originally posted by: MachFive
What I found most interesting about this article is the following:

Amir Taheri, an Iranian, is the author of The Cauldron ? The Middle East Behind the Headlines

If the under-25 population of Iran, composing 50% of the population, sees what happened in Iraq, and realize they're living under a despot and could seize power, perhaps we'll start to see a domino effect among middle eastern nations.

I find it fascinating that the very fear we had with communism; IE, the domino effect, engulfing more and more nations with the "Red Scourge," could actually end up tipping the entire opposite direction in the Middle East, bringing about a rise in Democracies.

Of course, I'm being overly optimistic here. But it still is a remote possibility.

Better than remote, they have been calling for secular democratic reform for years, this will only increase the pressure. Iran saw nothing of the celebration in Baghdad yesterday BTW, but you can bet your a*s their leader did, he will lead the Friday prayer this week and is supposed to allude to Iran's future, hopefully he will start reforms himself.

 

[Looney]

Good article!

 

[rahvin]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64349-2003Apr9.html

"Ramy Khoury, editor of the Daily Star in Beirut, Lebanon writes that "a realistic reading of the policy must conclude that the sacking of Baghdad is designed to send signals to all other Middle Eastern and Asian regimes that the U.S. finds annoying, threatening, distasteful, worrisome, or even just a little strange.


Khoury explicated what he said are "the new rules of the game now being explained to the world through the televised display of Mesopotamian show-and-tell."

"If Washington merely suspects that terrorists may one day emerge from your land, or that you might in future threaten your neighbors, you have only two options: You change course and shape up, or you are finished as a governing regime. If you behave as Baghdad behaved, defying the new rules of the game, you suffer the same fate as Baghdad is suffering."

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: rahvin
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64349-2003Apr9.html

"Ramy Khoury, editor of the Daily Star in Beirut, Lebanon writes that "a realistic reading of the policy must conclude that the sacking of Baghdad is designed to send signals to all other Middle Eastern and Asian regimes that the U.S. finds annoying, threatening, distasteful, worrisome, or even just a little strange.


Khoury explicated what he said are "the new rules of the game now being explained to the world through the televised display of Mesopotamian show-and-tell."

"If Washington merely suspects that terrorists may one day emerge from your land, or that you might in future threaten your neighbors, you have only two options: You change course and shape up, or you are finished as a governing regime. If you behave as Baghdad behaved, defying the new rules of the game, you suffer the same fate as Baghdad is suffering."

Point?