Comments on: As Bush Meets With Maliki, Sadr Block Boycotts http://informedspeculation.com/2006/11/29/as-bush-meets-with-maliki-sadr-block-boycotts/ Refunds Cheerfully Given To All Who Disagree Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:53:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Priest http://informedspeculation.com/2006/11/29/as-bush-meets-with-maliki-sadr-block-boycotts/comment-page-1/#comment-149686 Priest Sat, 02 Dec 2006 06:00:26 +0000 http://decision08.net/2006/11/29/as-bush-meets-with-maliki-sadr-block-boycotts/#comment-149686 I think the Maliki vs. Sadar approach has promise................Reaching out to radical Sunni's has proven to be a dead-end............ Most power brokers in Iraq are religious conservatives so backing the less radical of the choices seems logical................... I think the Maliki vs. Sadar approach has promise…………….Reaching out to radical Sunni’s has proven to be a dead-end…………

Most power brokers in Iraq are religious conservatives so backing the less radical of the choices seems logical……………….

]]> By: As Bush Meets With Maliki, Sadr Block Boycotts :: Newstack http://informedspeculation.com/2006/11/29/as-bush-meets-with-maliki-sadr-block-boycotts/comment-page-1/#comment-149685 As Bush Meets With Maliki, Sadr Block Boycotts :: Newstack Sat, 02 Dec 2006 05:58:29 +0000 http://decision08.net/2006/11/29/as-bush-meets-with-maliki-sadr-block-boycotts/#comment-149685 [...] Read more: here [...] [...] Read more: here [...]

]]> By: Mark http://informedspeculation.com/2006/11/29/as-bush-meets-with-maliki-sadr-block-boycotts/comment-page-1/#comment-147797 Mark Wed, 29 Nov 2006 20:24:47 +0000 http://decision08.net/2006/11/29/as-bush-meets-with-maliki-sadr-block-boycotts/#comment-147797 It's deeper than that, though, Peter...read <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/world/middleeast/29mtext.html?_r=1&oref=slogin" rel="nofollow">the Stephen Hadley memo</a>, which I will be blogging about later today... It’s deeper than that, though, Peter…read the Stephen Hadley memo, which I will be blogging about later today…

]]> By: peter http://informedspeculation.com/2006/11/29/as-bush-meets-with-maliki-sadr-block-boycotts/comment-page-1/#comment-147791 peter Wed, 29 Nov 2006 19:57:47 +0000 http://decision08.net/2006/11/29/as-bush-meets-with-maliki-sadr-block-boycotts/#comment-147791 It seems to me that Sadr is an important part of his base – if he repudiates him, he is either dead or out of office – one of the problems of imposing a parliamentary system on a fragmented society is that competing factions will fight for their share of power. It’s easy to ask the various factions to subordinate their parochial concerns for the good of the state, but given the bloodshed and enmity which have existed for centuries, it’s not a realistic approach. It seems to me that Sadr is an important part of his base – if he repudiates him, he is either dead or out of office – one of the problems of imposing a parliamentary system on a fragmented society is that competing factions will fight for their share of power. It’s easy to ask the various factions to subordinate their parochial concerns for the good of the state, but given the bloodshed and enmity which have existed for centuries, it’s not a realistic approach.

]]> By: Mark http://informedspeculation.com/2006/11/29/as-bush-meets-with-maliki-sadr-block-boycotts/comment-page-1/#comment-147779 Mark Wed, 29 Nov 2006 19:16:23 +0000 http://decision08.net/2006/11/29/as-bush-meets-with-maliki-sadr-block-boycotts/#comment-147779 Perhaps he is in a impossible situation, but he could start improving things by being the Prime Minister of ALL Iraqis, and quit openly favoring Sadr... Perhaps he is in a impossible situation, but he could start improving things by being the Prime Minister of ALL Iraqis, and quit openly favoring Sadr…

]]> By: peter http://informedspeculation.com/2006/11/29/as-bush-meets-with-maliki-sadr-block-boycotts/comment-page-1/#comment-147777 peter Wed, 29 Nov 2006 19:10:19 +0000 http://decision08.net/2006/11/29/as-bush-meets-with-maliki-sadr-block-boycotts/#comment-147777 I think it is wrong to blame Maliki – like his predecessors, his job is an impossible one. It seems to me that Iraq has moved past civil war into a state of anarchy. The central government doesn’t have the resources, the leverage, or the respect of Iraqis to do the things we are demanding of them. Whether the experiment of installing a democratic central government through the force of occupation was doomed to failure from the start – or whether it could have worked but the mismanagement of the occupation caused it to fail – is a moot question. The fact is that the forces which are arrayed against the government are much stronger than the government, and we (and the rest of the world) lack the will to commit the lives and resources it would take to reverse the equation. Hence, I’m not sure exactly what he can do to move things in the right direction – now that we have taken a baseball bat to a beehive, I don’t see how one can realistically expect Maliki (or anyone else) to restore Iraq to some semblance of normalcy. I think it is wrong to blame Maliki – like his predecessors, his job is an impossible one. It seems to me that Iraq has moved past civil war into a state of anarchy. The central government doesn’t have the resources, the leverage, or the respect of Iraqis to do the things we are demanding of them. Whether the experiment of installing a democratic central government through the force of occupation was doomed to failure from the start – or whether it could have worked but the mismanagement of the occupation caused it to fail – is a moot question. The fact is that the forces which are arrayed against the government are much stronger than the government, and we (and the rest of the world) lack the will to commit the lives and resources it would take to reverse the equation. Hence, I’m not sure exactly what he can do to move things in the right direction – now that we have taken a baseball bat to a beehive, I don’t see how one can realistically expect Maliki (or anyone else) to restore Iraq to some semblance of normalcy.

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