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[IP] The "solution" to Iraq's civil war





Begin forwarded message:

From: Ted Kircher <tkircher@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: August 21, 2006 8:08:03 AM EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: The "solution" to Iraq's civil war
Reply-To: Ted Kircher <tkircher@xxxxxxxxxxx>

Dave, for IPers if you wish.
----- Original Message -----
From: John McAuliff
To: Recipient list suppressed
Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2006 9:36 PM
Subject: The "solution" to Iraq's civil war

A key intellectual cheerleader of US intervention in Iraq was Kenneth Pollack of the Brookings Institution. Lending credibility to his analysis was that, as far as I know, he was not associated with the Republican neo-cons. I was startled during the run up to the Iraq war to have Pollack cited favorably in a conversation I had with Sen. Hillary Clinton's chief foreign policy adviser (which may explain a lot about why she has been such a disappointment).

Pollack co authors a long and frightening piece in Sunday's Washington Post:

"The debate is over: By any definition, Iraq is in a state of civil war. Indeed, the only thing standing between Iraq and a descent into total Bosnia-like devastation is 135,000 U.S. troops -- and even they are merely slowing the fall. The internecine conflict could easily spiral into one that threatens not only Iraq but also its neighbors throughout the oil-rich Persian Gulf region with instability, turmoil and war...

Considering how many mistakes the United States has made in Iraq, how much time has been squandered, and how difficult the task is, even a serious course correction in Washington and Baghdad may only postpone the inevitable. "

His complex solution  requires (can you guess):

"Considering Iraq's much larger population, it probably would require 450,000 troops to quash an all-out civil war there. Such an effort would require a commitment of enormous military and economic resources, far in excess of what the United States has already put forth. "

Read the full article to see what Washington foreign policy theorists have in mind for us next.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082006Z.shtml

And if you missed ABC's This Week, you can watch on broad band a saner perspective from Senator Kerry in his interview with George Stephanopoulos http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/
John McAuliff
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