No…I get what he is saying and it’s a good idea. Problem is that it doesn’t take a lot of unhappy Iraqis to make a lot of trouble. Remember how much mayhem two snipers caused in DC last year? If you had 100 guys like that running around Iraq with RPGs and planting mines you could have a lot of trouble. In the grand scheme of things, it wouldn’t be anything more than a big nusaice, except each RPG attack becomes headline news on CNN and makes everyone second-guess our role over there.
I think maybe people should realize that invading and occupying a foreign country is dangerous business. The rightness or wrongness of the war is irrelevant now. Since we have taken over the country, it’s our job to rebuild it.
Of course, Bush’s administration hasn’t demonstrated an ability to manage a working economy, much less create a new one from scratch.
Well, the problem is that organized attacks with RPGs, mines, etc. do a lot more than the snipers. At present one does not travel on the Amman-Baghdad road at night as it is simply too hazardous, risk of mines and hijackings or plain getting blown away.
That does not help. Add on the other risks…
Much more than a nuisance, the present level of violence is seriously dangerous.
Indeed, although the background plays into current situation. Now all my dear innocents who cared less about the international legitimacy of the war can begin to see the price.
I think we more or less are in agreement. The point I am trying to make is that if it is a relatively small number of angry Iraqis causing trouble, these atacks won’t amount to more than a temporary speedbump in the road. If they are sympomatic of growing anti-Americanism then the problem is much more serious. At this time, I find it hard to tell either way from annecdotal stories in the news.
For what it’s worth, I expect that the attacks on coalition forces and sabotage to increase.
I found it amazing that the Republican Guards and the Saddam Feyadeen disappeared like they did and can only think that they are waiting for other opportunities. Certainly they can’t be feeling very good right now about their loss of status and surely are going to try to recover.
Possibly, if it were proven that Saddam were dead, or captured (preferred) maybe that would help make them realize that it is over, but until that occurs, there is still hope for them.
Improved relations between the coalition and the Iraqi citizens would help too. There are many small incidents (parading naked citizens in the streets, killing 11 yo boys, strip searching women) which make us seem like arrogant invaders. Providing jobs, paying salaries, getting the electricity back on reliably, cleaning up the water, etc. would help, too.