Fargo N.D. Arguably the hottest political issue at the moment is the 'war'in Iraq. I put war in quotes because I'm not sure that's what it is, nor do I know what it would mean to 'win'this' war.I think in a
war, we must be fighting one or more enemies, and the military definition of win would say that we must occupy their territory and impose our will upon them. Hmm. Doesn't seem to be much of what we're about here. Possibly it would help to start asking some fundamental questions, like what is Iraq? What is an Iraqi? I'm not sure what an Iraqi is, just as I know people that live/have lived there that don't either. Iraq, of course, is a country, but is it a country in the sense we mean it? For example, Is Guam a country? We took it from the Spanish and are still there, so it's a country if we say it is. But is that a country be anybody else's definition, especially the residents of Guam. Why am I going into this? Because is some sense Iraq is not much different. Before World War I(the war to make the world safe for democracy), Iraq was the Ottomon Empire(Turkey)'s province of Mesopotamia. To update those not up on WWI history, Turkey was on the losing side, and the Ottoman Empire was dismantled, with, by prior agreement, Great Britain and France dividing up most of the possessions. Somehow, Saudi Arabia escaped European Colonialism. Great Britain governed Iraq under a League of Nations Mandate, which it gave up in 1932 in favor of King Faisal. The country remained a kingdom until the Baath party overthrew the royal house in 1968. And we know where that led...Saddam Hussein The government was dominated by Sunni Muslims, who are out-numbered by the Shi'ites. And of course there are the Kurds. Notice the one thing missing in all this: nobody has ever asked these factions if they want to be in one country. The large turnouts in the elections don't mean much to me: if the other sides are avowed to wipe you off the face of the map in Allah's name, of course you'll vote. About the Kurds, I don't think there's much question. They want to be 'an Independent Kurdish State'according to a Kurdish acquaintance of mine. Of course some live in Turkey, so this may be difficult to accomplish.One thing I do find interesting is the apparent universal celebration in Iraq of their recent championship in the Asian Soccer competition. The only sign of unity I've seen involving
By: Fear the Lutefisk
http://www.fargophantom.com
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