What we have wrought in Iraq.

"In a sad sense, none of this maneuvering actually matters all that much. Regardless of who becomes prime minister or president, Iraq is about to become increasingly authoritarian. Oil revenues will not kick in for several years, so services are not going to improve. Even when revenues reach Iraqi coffers, infrastructure costs will eat them up for the near future. The lack of services means the government will face street-level dissatisfaction and become harsher and more dictatorial in response -- even if a democratic façade persists."  Nir Rosen

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What Nir seems to be saying is that Iraq's armed forces and police are imcreasingly corrupt and brutal, but devoted to the idea of Iraq, determined to hold the country together and capable of doing so.

I remember Saddam's forces and police as being much the same. 

As I have said, we substituted Shia rule for Sunni rule.  End of mssage.  pl

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/09/07/what_america_left_behind_in_iraq?page=full

http://thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100910/REVIEW/709099998/1008

Comments

[judith weingarten]

You wrote

True, but the other change in Iraq might (or might not long be) the Kurds.

[William R. Cumming]

In addition to switching power from a minority Islamic sect to a majority sect, the period from August 1990 to August 2010 will be remembered forever in Iraqi history for the up to 6 million refugees that fled Iraq for various reasons, its long-term familiarization with the strengths and weaknesses of the WEST, and how it might or might not fit as a secular state in a world soon to be dominated by the militaries and economic power of East and South Asia. Hard to predict but the gunpowder and technology advantage of the WEST which is still trying hard to not be Christendom but something else seems to be about to fullfill the fate long predicted for those who failed to understand the ending of a Catholic world view with the rise of a second Rome and then the Reformation. Since Islam is clearly a WESTERN religion will be interesting to see how the WESTERN religions impact East and South Asia over the next 500 years. It is interesting 9 years today after 9/11 that arguments on both sides of the gains of various religions in the WEST appear to have generated such little understanding of the mutual history of the WESTERN religions, and how they impacted WESTERN history.

[Patrick Lang]

JW

Surrounded by enemies, with no outlet to the sea, what are their prospects? pl

[Jose L Campos]

For my thoughts are not your your thoughts, my ways are not your ways says the Lord. If I keep in mind that saying all the darkness lifts, not in the sense that I know more about something but that I become reconciled to the apparent absurdity of it all. Beneath that absurdity crawls the Spirit of History, a spirit that achieves equality for all, not simultaneously but progressively. More I don't know.

[Jackie]

Sad, sad, sad. The political leadership in this country sent our military to wreck a country that did nothing to us.

May Bush, Cheney and the neocons all rot in hell.

[William R. Cumming]

What I find most interesting about Iraq is not the discontinuity in US policies towards that Nation-STATE but the continuities. Example, our early capitulation as to the rights of women, educational investment, tolerance of Iraqi elites continuing to clamp down on reformist elements and of course the careerism of variou bureacracies that saw Iraq in-country time as a ticket not as a measure of or or fore accomplishment. Okay Bush and Cheney may have lied and made mistakes and made bad decisions but what arguments can be mounted that their efforts have been totally or parially repudiated? FEW IMO. We still continue to have few in country that actually understand Iraq, its peoples and its various cultures.

[confusedponderer]

Re:

Surrounded by enemies, with no outlet to the sea, what are their prospects? pl

I have said to a friend in 2003 that the Kurds, with their national (and inevitably transnational) ambitions, better thread lightly, if they don't want to get ground up between Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq.

[Patrick Lang]

WRC

Iraq is a "nation-state" for some but not all Iraqis. For others it is merely a "state." pl

[Stanley Henning]

We seem to have taken Iraq to a point where they could actually become more pro-Iran over time. What does this tell us about the strategic savvy of our civil and military leadership?

[Redhand]

To me the most critical signal that our whole "democracy-building" effort here has been a disaster is the last Iraqi election. Maliki lost, but refuses to concede and clings to power. The Iraqis basically have no government. "Freedom is on the march!"

May Bush, Cheney, and the whole neocon cabal rot in hell. They have so, so much blood on their hands for starting this hideous conflict.

[ked]

"May Bush, Cheney and the neocons all rot in hell."

"May Bush, Cheney, and the whole neocon cabal rot in hell."

Seems a consensus is building. Those who reason from conclusions have no choices, so make bad decisions.

[Lee B]

About Cheney rotting in Hell?
Hell, yes! And he knows it which is why he's working so hard to stay alive!

[mo]

Colonel,
Substituting Sunni with Shia is a start; At least its now a majority rule. I always have been opposed to this war but its time to make lemonade from this lemon.

And as long as there remains some semblance of democracy, the Shia will remain in charge. The question for the Shia of Iraq is whether they can get rid of the bunch of curs and scoundrels that were given to them by the invasion and replace them with proper statesmen or at least people who are looking out for the people as a whole rather than filling their boots with gold.

The street can be tolerant if they dont feel that their leaders are lining their pockets.

It would also help Americas image no end if it got the sanctions lifted, stopped the Kuwaitis getting even more reparations and told those people suing the Iraqis that the small figure they want is symbolically like a rag to a bull.

[YT]

I'm not sure whether to feel sympathy for the tens of thousands Iraqi dead or to feel sorry for those Americans dyin' in some obscure country which most of 'em have li'l understandin' of...

From an ancient Master of War from the Far East: "Those angry will be happy again, and those wrathful will be cheerful again, but a destroyed nation cannot exist again, the dead cannot be brought back to life."

Col. sir, I've some queries. Was there ever a time armed forces & police in middle eastern countries were not corrupt & brutal?

[Bill Wayne]

I feel so bad to know that Iraq's armed forces and police are increasingly corrupt and brutal as what have been mentioned. I hope that one day, Iraq will progress. More related posts at http://bestmilitarysurplus.com