JUAN COLE (love him) IRAQ both Witches’ Brew & Pressure Cooker

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Snippets from:
Juan Cole

How Bush Created a Theocracy in Iraq

My article, "How Bush Created a Theocracy in Iraq, is now up at TruthDig.com. It begins, "The Bush administration naively believed that Iraq was a blank slate on which it could inscribe its vision for a remake of the Arab world. Iraq, however, was a witches’ brew of dynamic social and religious movements, a veritable pressure cooker. When George W. Bush invaded, he blew off the lid."

The hawks in the Bush administration had initially hoped that a conquered Iraq would form the launching pad for a further American war on Iran. The Shiites of Iraq foiled that plan. Sistani forced the Americans into direct, one-person, one-vote elections. Those elections in turn ensured that the religious Shiites would come to power, since they had the greatest street credibility, given their long struggle against Saddam and their nationalist credentials in the face of American occupation.

The real winners of the Iraq war are the Shiites.

http://www.juancole.com/
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/how_bush_created_a_theocracy_in_iraq