Iraq solution
 

Joe Biden, whose mouth in motion before brain in gear syndrome usually nails him before he can make any sense actually has the solution to Iraq. Seperate the country into three states with a loose affiliation. Kurds in the North, Sunnis in the central part and Shiites in the south.:btu:

Forget democracy, these are and will always be tribal states.

Bingo, pack your bags boys were goin home!:claps:

He's been saying this for as while. Problems is the Turks are against it, as are Jordan, Syria, Saudis, and Iran - all the neighbors ;) . It has gone so far as different Iraqui factions trying to work out who would get what Oil control... Wonder if balkanization will work in Iraq... WTF - tried (often too late) everything else...

Um, Steve, that isn't exactly NEW thinking. This was proposed by others well before Biden took to the screen.

I think Sen. Biden plagiarized again. :usd:

The HARD part is ... how do you divvy up the oil wealth equitably?

Biden has referenced the Peter Galbraith book "End of Iraq" which I've read, and would suggest as great background.

The plan would include a loose federation to divide oil revenues in a more equal manner, not just based on geography. Obviously this has problems of it's own, but no solution is perfect.

-spence

hehe... yea great background reading from such a well rounded thinker open to such a free flow of ideas on this subject. First lets put the whole title of the book out there so everyone can see it.

"The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End "

Second, this guy has an undying love for the Kurds and has been stumping for their 'independence' for years. In 2003, he resigned from U.S. government after 24 years of service in order to be able to criticize U.S. Iraq policy more freely.

Nothing like a fresh unbiased opinion.

(disclaimer... Bill Maher and Keith Olberman LOVED this book.)

You justify G with this :wave:

Did you read it?

-spence

With Tony Blair set to annouce the day he will step down next week it will be interesting to see if the Labour party and Gordon Brown (the new PM) will backtrack on the Iraq policy and pull the British troops out. There will be considerable public pressure to begin withdrawals as the lack of stated clarity about what the mission's goals and how to achieve them is putting a lot of pressure on the Labour government to disengage before the next general election. Probably not a shocker but it does place the Conservative Party in the unusual position of taking a policy line opposite to the US for the first time in any one's memory.

Nah, just a cursory inspection and some research on it when it came out. I am backed up right now with books, I'll get to it after the fishing season. :rotf2:

I am Currrently reading 'America Alone" by Mark Steyn. This book is wild, I cannot put it down.

all i know is
 

that each british squad should have received an inflatable prince harry

aparently bush was planning solutions for Iraq in 2000. hmm
http://www.gnn.tv/articles/article.php?id=761

Cursory inspection? You mean you read the cover? What do they say about that?

It's a fantastic book.

-spence

:lasso: Go catch a fish.

Or are you going to argue that the war was ran in a competent manner? Or that that we've created a situation with an easy exit?

Sometimes you just have to call a spade a spade. The fact that the author is quite credible shouldn't make a difference either I'm sure :cputin:

And no fishing tonight. I blew out my back landscaping this morning and it's all I can do to put a shine on my brown C&J monkstraps for my business trip tomorrow...that airplane seat is going to be hell.

I just keep telling myself at least I'm not F18. This will be over in a few weeks if I go easy :angel:

-spence

The war is a complete mess. There absolutely is NO easy exit strategy.

Hope the back feels better soon.

We should withdraw and let them just duke it out, all testimonial to the fact we should of stayed out of there in the first place, but debating whether or not we should'a is water under the bridge. Eventually, they (Iraqi's) will just get tired of fighting (i.e. the balkans) and that way a homegrown solution will arise. It sucks, but its what we get for electing incompetent leaders. We'll pay in the end.

This is a very interesting book on how we are dealing with the decisions post-wwI in this area. I highly recommend it if you are a history buff.

http://www.amazon.com/Churchills-Fol...4269452&sr=8-1

As Britain's colonial secretary in the 1920s, Winston Churchill made a mistake with calamitous consequences. Scholar and adviser to Tony Blair's government, Christopher Catherwood chronicles and analyzes how Churchill created the artificial monarchy of Iraq after World War I, thereby forcing together unfriendly peoples under a single ruler. The map of the Middle East that Churchill created led to the rise of Saddam Hussein and the wars in which American troops fought in 1991 and 2003. Defying a global wave of nationalistic sentiment, and the desire of subject peoples to rule themselves, Winston Churchill put together the broken pieces of the Ottoman Empire and created a Middle Eastern powder keg. Inducing Arabs under the rule of the Ottoman Turks to rebel against their oppressors, the British and French during World War I convinced the Hashemite clan that they would rule over Syria. In fact, Britain had promised the territory to the French. To make amends, Churchill created the nation of Iraq and made the Hashemite leader, Feisel, king of a land to which he had no connections at all. Eight pages of photographs add to this fascinating history on Churchill's decision and the terrible legacy of the Ottoman Empire's collapse.