Post Saddam ergo propter Saddam
Hm, elucidator, you’re hinting at some past history between ol man Kissinger and the kurds… Please enlighten an un-educated Swede on this subject!
There are many, this seems the most concise…
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/kurds5.htm
"…It had happened before. In May 1972, President Nixon and Secretary of
State Henry Kissinger met in Tehran with the Shah of Iran. The Shah
asked Nixon to arm the Kurds in their struggle against Iraq, his irksome
neighbor.
On Nixon’s orders, the CIA shipped $16 million in weapons and supplies
through Iran to the Kurds. But Washington did not share the Kurds’
dream of independence. The Kurds were only “a uniquely useful tool for
weakening Iraq’s potential for international adventurism,” a 1974 CIA
memorandum said.
In March 1975, as the operation continued under President Ford, the
Shah cut a secret deal with Saddam, then Iraq’s vice president and most
powerful military man. They would settle a border dispute amicably if Iran
would cut off the arms shipments to the Kurdish rebels.
Within hours, Iraqi forces attacked the Kurds, who sent an urgent appeal
to the CIA. “Intervene according to your promises,” it read. No answer
came and thousands died.
Kissinger was questioned about the operation by a congressional panel in
1976. “Covert action,” he observed, “should not be confused with
missionary work.”…
Elucidator, could I ask you a favor, nicely? Would you please drop the Conan the Canadian moniker? Childish name calling really have no place on the Straight Dope board. I’m sure the moderators would agree.
Let’s try to debate like grownups.
Well, the simple request would have been sufficient, a threat to call in moderators is quite unnecessary. Had no idea you were so…delicate, Sam
As you wish. It was only funny the first four or five times, anyway.
Thanks for the info, elucidator. Doesn’t suprise me at all.
Sam:
You are quite an optimist. I hope you are right. I would not be surprised, contrary to what many in this thread have opined, that we will install a functional democracy and that, in a few years, it spins “out of control”. I don’t think we’ll have the will to stay long enough to enforce our kind of democracy indefinitely. Short term, though, I think things will work out pretty well.
So this guy falls out a window at the Optimist Club, on the 103rd floor, and as he passes the window you can hear him say “Well, so far, so good.”
I’m well aware that there are potential problems. These should not prohibit us from trying to achieve the vision I outlined above.
Whether they are “potential problems” or “yawning pits of certain doom” remains to be seen. I insist, nonetheless, the a war in order to gain the opportunity to to test the hypothesis is the height of madness.
**Found it.
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/079/region/Iraqi_opposition_leader_says_d:.shtml
And hey, look who’s here! It’s Jimmy Carter! 
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/12/10/norway.peace/
[checks CNN.com for somebody using Iraq war as an excuse to nuke their neighbors]
[checks BBC online for somebody using Iraq war as an excuse to nuke their neighbors]
[checks GoogleNews for somebody using Iraq war as an excuse to nuke their neighbors]
Hmm…Only possibility is North Korea, but they’ve been rattling that saber for so long now that all the shiny gold-plating is wearing off, and the words “PROPERTY OF PYONG-YANG UNIVERSITY DRAMA DEPT.” are clearly visible on the hilt.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,6168303%5E663,00.html
Pakistan, India, and Israel, would be my guess.
Iraqi expatriots support the position of the US? Hold the presses!
Perhaps some other insights from the middle east would interest you.
From arabnews.com (Saudi Arabia’s First English Daily):
It is a rather short editorial that describes some of the complexity of Iraq and the middle east, then through analogy explores issues related to the US establishing a democracy there.