1. lignaeus said:

Big mistake not to eliminate Sadr while they had the chance in Najaf.

2. Charles Martel said:

Et tu Chalibi? Ted, can you post this article? If "never" means even after a Palestinian state comes into existence, the Saudi Peace Plan aka the Roadmap is officially dead because the Saudis cannot deliver on their promise to bind the Arabs to offer normal diplomatic relations - including recognizing Israel's right to exist and secure borders. Back to square one.

3. Ted Belman said:

Right on Charles. I had the same thought. Regardless of when the US leaves, the area will be very unstable and I am expecdting Iraq to break up. All the more reason for OIsrael to never withdraw from Judea and Samaria.

4. Leonard said:

The future for Iraq as a unified sovereign State looks very bleak indeed. The minority Sunni's are very reluctant to surrender their dominance of the country that they enjoyed under the Baathists for over 40 years, and the Kurdish region in the North is practically independent already. The majority Shias in the South are being slaughtered in great numbers by Zakari's Sunni Al Qaida movement on a daily basis in an attempt to provoke a civil War, that now seems inevitable if American forces withdraw.There are daily assassinations of politicians, judges, lawyers and other leading figures, kidnappings etc. The Iranian's are waiting in the wings to move into the Oil rich Shia regions when the American's pull out, and hundred's of foreign Jihadists are entering across the Syrian border every day to fuel the insurgency. I can assure you that relations with Israel is probably the last thing on the minds of any future Iraqi Government, with their priority being their own security and survival.

5. kuhnkat said:

Uhhhh, is anyone REALLY surprised by this? These people ARE Muslims and Arabs. It is not like Iraq didn't take part in the attempted Genocide on Israel 3 times.

6. rocky said:

Unlike in Japan and Germany after WW2, American occupation doesn't seem to have had many positive effects.

Some people I trust tell me that Bush knows what he is doing there. But I don't know what to think, because Iraq, if anything has become even more radical.

7. Ken Heller said:

I hate to infringe on the the tender sensitivities of those that continue to hold out hope for peace but you must realize that you cannot compromise with an enemy that refuses to compromise with you! The very existence of the State of Israel is what continues to raise the head of Arab intransigence. They want to destroy Israel. It's that simple. They believe that the Jews stole their land . They are wrong but that is what they believe. You must know that.

I would much rather concentrate my efforts on getting help for the people that have been abandoned by their own government. The people of Gush Katif and Northern Shomron to a large extent remain homeless and jobless. That is a terrible tragedy. That must be reversed.

For those wanting to help, please contact me by responding to these remarks at kayjayphilly@yahoo.com

8. ShyGuy said:

I appreciate the Iraqi's candidness.

If that's what they want, let 'em rot in their Islamic sand castles. Who cares!

9. Laura said:

Well Rocky unfortunately Bush does not know what he's doing in Iraq. If Iraq winds up becoming another islamist state under sharia law, then what the hell was this war fought for?

10. Bill Narvey said:

Though Iraq has come a long way from the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein, the differences and competing goals between the Sunnis and the Shi-ites spell many difficulties for the future that still could descend to civil war.

One can presume that while the Shi-ites nor the Sunnis both desire a position of power and influence, neither desires an all out war between them. It is only natural therefore to look for some things they can agree on.

Iraqi factions did not have to look far to find that commonality with which to try to work out their differences.

Jew and Israel hatred is the tried and true tie that binds fractious Muslim factions and nations together.

Historically, when friction amongst various Arab nations grew, one nation, usually Egypt took the lead in stoking up incitement of Jew hatred throughout the Arab world, at times to the point of coming together to make war on Israel.

Focusing on Jew/Israel hatred usually has worked to allowed Mid East Muslim nations to put aside their differences.

That the Shi’ites and Sunnis have turned to Jew/Israel hatred to provide common ground to try to start working out their differences, is only good common sense from the perspective of the Iraqi people.

We can expect however that the Bush Administration, which is so intent on facilitating the democratization of Iraq, will choose to ignore this aspect of good old fashioned Muslim Jew/Israel hatred common sense.

11. lignaeus said:

Two points on the other side of the general drift of the comments, one, the Iraqi elections, surely they mean something for the future and two, Iran itself won't forever be a Mullahcracy. We're at the beginning of a long, long road, and you surely can't just sit by the roadside as has been done the last sixty odd years.
Having said that, it will be even longer before the Arabs can be trusted, four thousand years of deviousness, self selected by eliminating any who are less devious, must finish up in the genetic make up to a certain extent, and we know how slow evolution can be.

12. georg von mecklenburg said:

You all are losing sight over why this war was fought in the first place. The Western World isfighting a war on terrorism and it has to begin somewhere. The Iraqi war is not about Israel, or whether Iraq ever will recognize Israel, it is about terror. Saddam Hussein was an arch terrorist who not only killed and maimed his own people, but tried to do the same to everyone else he deemed to be an enemy.

13. Leonard said:

Well said georg - I couldn't have put it better.

14. Ted Belman said:

I have to disagree with georg and Leonard, The war on terror requires us to fight all sponsers of terror including S.Arabia, Iran and Syria. We are not doing that. So much for the war on terror. Many of us hoped the new Iraq would recognize Israel. That would be a sign for the bettor. But since the new Iraq totally rejects coexistence with Israel what does that say for the war on terror. America wanted to transform the ME. Iraq will not be an independant state. Neither the Shiites nor the Sunnis will let it be. I can't see any good that will come out of "victory". The US has defined victory as getting out in a face saving way. That's losing. Like it or not they must stay in occupation just as Israel is staying in occupation. They have no choice, They can't afford to allow Iran to take over nor to have al Qaeda take over. Leaving Hussein in power was a much better idea. More terror will come from the latter two then came from him. There is no new day here , just a worse day.