Naive proposal for Iraq...get ALL parties to the table to talk.

[dogindia]

Fighting is not going to work.

[Double T]

1. There REALLY is NO OTHER reasonable or sane solution, BUT........

bushco is INCAPABLE of diplomacy.

[TahitiNut]

2. Haven't you heard George?

He says we can't negotiate with terrorists or ANYONE that opposes us - because they can't be trusted. In other words, they're subhuman - not like "us" - and "we" can't lower ourselves to speaking with such people.

It's a really awesome perspective. It's "you're either with us or against us" and there's no possibility of ever talking.

But it's OK ... we have a "spokesman" for the position of our enemas. It's George and Dick and Condi. They tell us what "they" want and what "they" think. We don't need to actually talk since our "leaders" are infallible and omniscient. Our leaders will tell us what "they" think.

But God forbid anyone trusts anyone else enough to actually talk to each other.

:sarcasm:

:puke:

[leftofthedial]

3. who are the "parties"?

whose table would they agree to gather around? Ours? The Iraqi "government's"?

[Vorta]

4. What would be the basis for this prophecy?

Seriously, isn't there a case to be made that some of what's going on in Iraq has to do with deposing the dictator who kept a lid on things? That if left to their own devices, they would simply fight until another dictator emerged?

I'm not defending us being there, but I think the idea that an enduring peace can be arranged through reasonable people having civil discourse presumes facts not in evidence.

[Kagemusha]

5. Of course you're quite correct.

This is for the simple reason that one religion has been suppressed by another (with followers with heavily secular leanings during the Baath era) and they want their due. Those they want their due from don't want them to have it. Simple, but insoluble until one side gives up on its aspirations. This will not happen without a lot more bloodletting.

[Vorta]

7. Two sects of the same religion arguing over something stupid

As always, I suspect this comes down not to the sect one belongs to, or if one believes that Joe or Frank was the true son and line of descendancy of Mohammed. I think it's probably a sorting system for regional and ethnic groups who adopted these different beliefs. Kind of like Jews and Arabs- the religion is the identifier and fuel for the fire, but the difference is tribal. If both tribes were Jews or Moslem, it would still bo back to those descended from Sarah and those descended from Haggar, ie Hatfields and McCoys.

[On the Road]

6. Violence Against the US is Easy to Solve

Simply withdraw.

Violence among Iraqis is the hard part. I don't know how that is possible unless the people actually fighting each other are brought to the table.

In one sense, it's not about the US -- we won't be there forever. It's about the Mahdi Army, the Sunni insurgents, and all the people on the ground shooting each other. Those are the people who have to make to make peace with each other. And it be the US's job to create the best possible conditions for that to happen -- if indeed it can.