political/religious trap.

And the answer is, "No".

With the right kind of bomb..

I guess world wide nuclear war would put a stop to all of this infighting.

Wait, no....then the survivors would be killing each other over the bottle of water.....

is there a place between doing nothing and bombing? a strategy that would work? Probably not. Our reputation is so bad in that region that I can't see any intervention as working.

Even if the UN were to call it a humanitarian crisis and ask for nations to get involved; we'd be better off providing financial support (if that) and stay out of it. And if they did, I think people in that region would just assume that the US manipulated the United Nations.

Bryant

...let's have the Sufis choose the new Caliph. Age-old conflict solved!

Which I think is a bit extreme.

against us.

Maliki will have to either resign or at the very least reform his government to become more effective and inclusive of Sunni concerns.

There is promise, the top Shia cleric in Iraq has criticized Maliki in this regard and perhaps Maliki is rethinking his governing strategy, the last time I checked he has been more silent as of late.

The only way that I see resolution is for the three main factions Shia, Sunni and the Kurds to either divide into three less volatile nations or at the very least three more autonomous zones.

I also believe the end product must include a regional resolution encompassing Syria, Turkey and Iran.

Thanks for the thread, grahamhgreen.

Obviously, it's beyond our ability to solve this issue. We've only made things much, much worse.

I don't believe it's beyond our capability to right what we have wrecked, so long as we approach said negotiations with the Iraqi People in mind first and foremost, not ourselves nor our fossil fuel corporations.

if the benefits of such an arrangement can be made clear to them.

"Great Satan"

Last edited Tue Jun 24, 2014, 09:41 PM - Edit history (1)

1337 to 1453.

Catholics have massacred Protestants, Protestants have massacred Catholics and war among nations beholding to one such faith or the other has been waged for hundreds of years.

The name "Great Satan" is not static in the Islamic world, it has only stuck because our actions over the past 70-80 years or so have given them cause to believe it, nothing says we can't begin anew.

Above all we must be sincere in our words and actions while putting the people of that region first, what's best for them?

We can offer our honest advice but we must let them decide.