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It ain't going to happen. If the Shia and the Sunni's and the Kurds would just keep their mouths shut and mind their own business it might be possible for Bush to pull out the troops. It ain't going to happen.
Ayatollah Sistani has NO reason to cooperate with Bush and Bremer at all. In fact, if he can HURT Bush and damage his chances for reelection, we might see open warfare in the streets between our forces and the Shiites before June.
Sure, they're happy to get rid of Saddam but does anyone smarter than a turnip think that they don't hate and despise us for doing it? A christian crusader army encamped on their territory and calling the shots in their country JUST LIKE THE BRITISH USED TO DO? These people have LONG memories and they have NO reason to love us. They also have a lot of bodies lying around that are directly related to our liberating tendencies.
And, of course, we have put a "ruling council" in power over them that is made up of people the French would call collaborators. These are guys who have the fantasy that somehow or other they will remain in power ten minutes after the last US boot leaves the ground in Iraq.
By next November I am willing to bet good money that we will either be running with our tails between our legs or the bodybags will be coming home too fast for even Bush to spin them away. Who knows? Maybe we'll get to enjoy another hostage crisis.
And if we send our troops back in you can be sure it won't be a cakewalk, now that the Iraqi soldiers know how trustworthy our leaders really are.
This is a disaster of the first order building up over the horizon and it'll take a lot more than a buffoon from Texas to save the day. Clark, at least, has the credentials of having led the defense of a million or so Muslims in the Baltics and a lot of those folks think he saved their lives. If we truly want peace, that kind of a record can help a lot.
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