I see your point, Ecto. But while the fighting is being conducted by small militias, it is growing and I fear that there IS widespead popular support for them. I think they all hate our guts. A few more months of this and we will all know the truth. I am not optimistic that Iraq is going to bloom into some kind of Jeffersonian democracy. Not now, not ever. Whenever we leave, be it tomorrow or in 50 years, some strongman will take charge. There isn't a democracy anywhere in the Arab world. I just don't see how digging this hole any deeper benefits us.
Due to fact that President Bush had the courage to do what had to be done in Iraq. Iran and Syria won't be nearly the problem they would have been. Kahdaffi would have never agreed to give up his WMDs if he wasn't quakeing in fear that he could be next on the "Axis of Evil" hitlist. If Kerry were to be elected all bets are off. We would never regain the grudging respect (fear of being ousted) under his wishy washy administration. The old saying "When you've got 'em by the balls their hearts and minds will follow" may not be literally true but it is true that when you've got 'em by the balls their balls will follow or else.
You're probably right about them hating us. I suspect that it may be a mixture of fear, mistrust, and just being brainwashed to hate America. While I don't expect a perfect democracy, I do think that so long as we support their new government (with force if necessary) it will be a better situation than before, i.e. a country that hates us, but won't support terrorism and try to obtain WMDs, and be more concerned with building a better life for themselves. With the oil they have, they have the potential to be a very prosperous country.
I hope you are right. There could be a rosy scenario for the Iraqis, but it will take their cooperation to make it happen. They started out by looting their own country and blaming us, now they are blowing up pipelines and killing international aid workers who are trying to help them and they also blame us. If they do a 180 and form the kind of government you envisage, it is unlikely we'll get any thanks. Khadaffi sure got religion didn't he! On the other hand the "axis of evil" warning sent Kim Il Sung in the opposite direction. That crazy bastard is now threatening everybody in range of his missles, soon to be equipped with nuclear warheads. We have troops in South Korea, Japan, and Okinawa in danger. I'm not happy with the Bush administration's appeasement of North Korea, although I understand why. We don't have the miitary resources to fight them right now, except to use the nukes which would bring the Chinese in on their side. It feels like we are kissing the little bastards ass, which disturbs me.
