True, but I don't see the Government being able to set in place a democracy in a area when that idea runs counter to their history and culture.

Ether way it is apparent that the Iraq governmental leader need to step up, the sooner the better.

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Ard Druid..

It's possible. I think if the Iraqi government fails, it will be due to a failure of leadership in the government. In other words, they won't be able to rally around a strong leader and the government will remain paralyzed as they are torn down by an insurgency. That's my half-baked theory on how a failed Iraqi state starts.

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"Of course the fact that a person believes in racial equality doesn't prove that he's a communist...but it certainly makes you look twice, doesn't it? You can't get away from the fact that racial equality is part of the communist line." - Joseph McCarthy

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The problem becomes what or who come in to fill the vacuum?

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Ard Druid..

Al-Sadr in the South and Center. Some Sunni groups in the West and the Kurds in the North. The worst case scenario is if the Shi'ites just solidifiy control over their territories and keep all the oil for themselves. The Kurds have some oil on their lands too, I believe. I don't think that any group has the power projection to take all of Iraq, and even if they did, it would be destroyed by US airstrikes, and nullified by Saudi support of the Sunni's.

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"Of course the fact that a person believes in racial equality doesn't prove that he's a communist...but it certainly makes you look twice, doesn't it? You can't get away from the fact that racial equality is part of the communist line." - Joseph McCarthy

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Don't forget the last thing the Saudis or Kuwaitis want is a stable Iraq. It is in their best intrest to foster division and unrest.

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Ard Druid..

Well I think that a democracy in Iraq, would make the Saudi's and Kuwaiti's look bad because they have a monarchy, but I don't think they favor constant warring in Iraq. That causes all kinds of problems, with more US and Iranian intervention. I'd say that the status quo government is their best bet. Anything else either is too unstable or favors their regional rival: Iran.

__________________
"Of course the fact that a person believes in racial equality doesn't prove that he's a communist...but it certainly makes you look twice, doesn't it? You can't get away from the fact that racial equality is part of the communist line." - Joseph McCarthy

Political Forum Diplomacy Game Map (In Progress)
Current Diplomacy thread

Chief Palestinian Authority cleric Mufti Sheikh Ikrimeh Sabri stated, "We tell them, in as much as you love life, the Muslim loves death and martyrdom.

Bible: Proverbs 8:36 All they who hate me (God) Love death.

Hadiths Muslim Vol.IV p.1510...The last Hour would not come till the Muslims fight against the Jews, and the Muslims will kill them until the Jews hide themselves behind the stones and trees, and the stones and trees would speak up saying: 'O Muslim! O slave of Allah There is a Jew hiding behind me; come and kill him'. The Gharqad tree would speak, for it is the tree of the Jews."

Bible Ezekiel 35:5 Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed [the blood of] the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time [that their] iniquity [had] an end:

Ezekiel 35:10 Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the LORD was there:


assortment of Hadiths....We shall bring forth a Beast of the Earth to speak unto them because mankind had no faith in our revelation...the beast will appear very near the end of time... when disintegration, corruption, kufr and evil prevail, and commands of Allah are ignored...The beast will emerge to destinguish believers from the nonbelievers... It will Draw a line on the forehead of every believer...(surah an nami) (ibne Kathir) (Fathul-bari)(abu huraira-musnad Ahmad/titmidihi)

Qur'an Sura (8:12) - "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them"


BIBLE "and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
(Rev:20:4)

Bukhari (8:387)- "Allah's Apostle said,'I have been ordered to fight the people till they say:'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.' And if they say so, pray like our prayers, face our Qibla and slaughter as we slaughter, then their blood and property will be sacred to us and we will not interfere with them except legally and their reckoning will be with Allah.'"

Bible John 3 17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved


9:30 ... [A]nd the Christians say: Messiah is the son of Allah. . . . Allah’s Curse be on them, how they are deluded away from the truth!


Bible 1 John 2:22-23 "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also."

1 John 4:2-3 "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world."

Allah’s Messenger said: "By Him (Allah) in Whose Hand my soul is, surely the son of Mary [Isa (Jesus)] will shortly descend amongst you people (Muslims), and will judge mankind justly by the Law of the Quran (as a just ruler) and will break the Cross and kill pigs and abolish the Jizyah [a tax] ...." (Bukhari 3:2222)
Quote:


Daniel 7:21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;...will speak out against the Highest One,.. and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand... But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.

was there a point to that post? or was it point counter-point? can you distill the Religious dogma into a rational literary entry?

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Ard Druid..

it was for sherry's opening post.

Her post had me confused as well.

She's gone now, banned.

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Ard Druid..