Rand Paul Taunts Hillary Clinton After GOP Victory

[merrylander]

If you really want to know just how bloody devious the British and French were in that area read Lawrence of Arabia's biography.

[nailer]

Originally Posted by finnbow

The drawings of the borders by the French and British in 1919 without regard to ethnicity or religion is indeed a large part of the genesis of the problems in the Mideast. It ain't exactly an issue of blame, per se, but simply some historical perspective.

As was true with Jugoslavia where Slovenes, Croats and Serbs were lumped together in one country after WWI, a strongman was needed in Iraq (as well as Syria and Lebanon) to hold together hostile factions once the Ottoman empire collapsed. Remove the strongman and whaddya get?

Tahseen Bashir, the famous Egyptian diplomat under Nasser and Sadat, had it (mostly) right when said "Egypt is the only nation-state in the Arab world; the rest are just tribes with flags."

Who removed Iraq's strongman?

[nailer]

Originally Posted by merrylander

If you really want to know just how bloody devious the British and French were in that area read Lawrence of Arabia's biography.

Which one?

[donquixote99]

I expect he means his autobiography, 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom.'

[merrylander]

Lawrence really aligned himself with the locals and knew damn well that neither the British nor the French had any idea of standing by the promises they made.

[piece-itpete]

Opening the borders over there to a redraw is a very, very bad idea. There is a reason it's not really on the table even in an Obama admin.

Originally Posted by finnbow

To still maintain that the Iraq war was a good idea, given all we know now, is probably the most delusional thing I've ever read on this board. Pete will probably respond with a picture of an Iraqi woman with purple ink on her thumb as proof positive that it was a good idea, even in retrospect.

How about the Arab Spring?

I think what's happening over there was going to happen in some form sooner or later. Shall we back the Saddams and Assads? Mubarak? I thought that's what poisoned the Central American well. We tried for better or worse and thinking Arabs know it.

So at least the big picture was attempted and it still has an effect. Even the 'small' picture is being abandoned now - Afghanistan. Hooray?

Pete

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

Opening the borders over there to a redraw is a very, very bad idea. There is a reason it's not really on the table even in an Obama admin.

Why is it up to us to impose a solution? That itself is the genesis of the whole feckin' mess.

[piece-itpete]

Leaving it alone sure didn't work Finn!

Pete

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

Leaving it alone sure didn't work Finn!

Pete

Dubya should have left it alone. If he had, we wouldn't be there now and our deficit would be $1 trillion less, not to mention the deaths and injuries.

[piece-itpete]

Wonder what our buddy Saddam would be up to. Or what any of those countries would be like. But I don't have a crystal ball.

Pete