Sunday, January 14, 2007
It's the damage that we do and never know, it's the words we don't say that scare me so:
Get Thee to Kurdistanery! says Andrew. Many others agree. But why? The largest problem with the Iraq war is its overwhelming and necessary counterproductivity to the war against al-Qaeda. A large component of that war involves convincing Sunni Arabs that we're not at war with them qua Sunnis or qua Arabs. Engendering the creation of an independent Kurdistan through military clientism will set that effort back. Perhaps there's a compelling reason to do this anyway -- I should confess that I'm a sentimental fan of stateless peoples achieving statehood (not that the U.S. has to do it for them) --but if so, let's put it out there and evaluate its merits.
--Spencer Ackerman
posted 10:56 AM |
I should confess that I'm a sentimental fan of stateless peoples achieving statehood

I tend to view Israel through the prism of Ireland, so I tend to think in terms of Palestinian=Irish/Catholics and Israeli=Scots-Irish/Protestant. Because of this, I tend to embrace the Common Law principle (and Israel is a common land nation) that a thief can never get or give good title to land. I also think it is very easy for some Jewish-Americans to advocate policies that cause violence that they will never have to suffer through personally (just like me and my fellow Irish-Americans loved the IRA because we never experienced The Troubles).
Blogger joedokes | 4:15 AM

I think that it would be the last stage in overthrowing America's credit in the world if this nation, still without a real clue as to what Iraqis want or what they are about, and having the same problem with the Kurds (re the apparent American astonishment that the Kurds would actually guard an Iranian consulate on their soil), should take it upon ourselves to divide the nation. The absolute ridiculousness of this is hard to emphasize - it would make just as much sense for the U.S. to suggest that England let go of Scotland and Wales, or France of Brittany and Corsica.

When Americans make those type of suggestions, it makes me think about the attitude that made the Iraq invasion a horrendous idea in the first place.
Blogger Roger Gathmann | 10:49 AM