Sunday, August 10, 2008

Partition and Parcel

Not that it ever showed up on the Richter-Scale, mind you (I'm not of the big-dogs, I've been told), but this hombre was one of the earliest advocates for the partition plan in Iraq. I don't know, I guess I must have figured that this present day Iraq....is in many ways like the old Yugoslavia . This, I'm saying, in that each of these "countries" was, for all intents and purposes, a manufactured entity; Iraq stitched together after the first world war, Yugoslavia after the second. Both countries, also, in order to keep the disparate components from warring, had to be held together via dictatorships. And they both, once the dictatorships were eliminated, started to unravel.........................................I also must have figured that, since the partitioning of the old Yugoslavia has itself more or less worked (no, it's not a utopia but, still), it might not be the worst strategy to try it out in Iraq. And you know what, folks, I still haven't heard a better solution offered. In fact, partitioning may in fact be even more plausible now. I mean, think about it. Ethnic-cleansing has pretty much already divided the country. Why not make it official (revenue-sharing on the oil, the use of peace-keeping troops, sticky issues, granted)? It won't be easy (the Turkish-Kurdish quandary, especially) but, seriously, compared to a series of potential blood-baths and/or OUR continued occupation, it just might be the best of the least-worst options out there...........................................Mr. Obama, Mr. McCain, what do you think?

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