Lebanon, Yugoslavia -- and Now Iraq?

It does not take much imagination to see that Iraq is a mismatch of conflicting cultures -- 3 major ones and G-d save the stray pieces that don't fit into any of these: Kurd, Sunni, Shiite. Presumably the brutality of Hussein in holding his state together had some basis in these tensions, and now we have pulled that plug without replacing it with anything much plausible to the people in the streets -- out of work, electricity, water, with destroyed infrastructures and sudden death lurking just around the next bend in the road.

Our 'minimal' U.S. military presence looks to be part of the problem for this tortured land, not a solution. Democracy is a word connoting 'tyranny of the majority' and we have witnessed how brutal the conflicts can become when such tyrannies are resisted forcefully. Lest we forget Lebanon was the civilized gem of the Middle East before the civil war erupted there between the Christians (in whose turf bombs now are again exploding) and Muslims. And need we replay the genocide committed with the breakdown of Yugoslavia (Bosnia) within the memories of even our neocons? I fear the worst to come now in Iraq as well.

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Why Iraq's Sunnis fear constitution
Parliament is likely to approve the constitution by the deadline,
despite Sunni objections. By Dan Murphy and Jill Carroll
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0824/p01s01-woiq.html?s=hns
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"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
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Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
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