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2007-01-26 Home Front: WoT

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Posted by ryuge 2007-01-26 06:27|| || Front Page|| [8 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 To an Israeli, all USA MidEast "initiatives" look the same = sell Israel to gain Arab allies.

Posted by gromgoru 2007-01-26 06:40|| 2007-01-26 06:40|| Front Page Top

#2 Condoleeza is a babe, no doubt. But this is more of the same two-clever-by-half diplo-speak that has got every empire in history into trouble.

Posted by Excalibur 2007-01-26 10:46|| 2007-01-26 10:46|| Front Page Top

#3 I disagree. We have realized that the Sunni nations are paranoid about the Shiite nations. Saudi alone is so scared they are investing $100B to do whatever they can to stop the Iranians. Both Egypt and Saudi are talking about going nuclear out of fear that Iran is going nuclear.

Damn. If there ever was a good opportunity to get all the Sunni nations on our side, now is the time. Golden opportunities abound. Rice must be nearly overwhelmed with all the perspective alliances we could make to further our interests.

We could get them to sit on al-Qaeda and other extremists in their countries, get them to make movements towards greater democracy and economic liberalization. We might even get troop commitments from the Sunnis to go into Lebanon and clean Hizbollah's clocks. They might lean on Hamas, another Iranian proxy.

Already, the Egyptian military is very attuned to the US military because of the Bright Star exercises. Imagine if Saudi, Yemen and other Sunni nations sent large chunks of their military to participate in those exercises? Evan Oman, which is Ibadhi, not Sunni or Shiite, would possibly want on board, for fear of the Shiite.

Hell, you might even get Afghan and Pakistani army involved.

The Iranians would about crap themselves.

We could even offer the Sunnis a goal of capturing Syria, and giving control of that nation to its 80% Sunni majority, after smiting the Alawite Shiites who work on Iran's behalf against the Sunnis.

Best of all, we might use it as a major icebreaker between the Sunni nations and Israel.

It could be the opportunity of a lifetime.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-01-26 11:10|| 2007-01-26 11:10|| Front Page Top

#4 OK, Anonymoose. I'll bite. What do we do to the Kurds with this pro-Sunni plan? If the plan does not work in our favor, wouldn't it sour the one group of people who have the least animosity towards us? It sure would be nice to have a base in the area with a fairly grateful and cooperative populace.

Posted by Jules 2007-01-26 12:03|| 2007-01-26 12:03|| Front Page Top

#5 get all the Sunni nations on our side

Sorry to break your doll, Anonymoose, but for Arabs' there is always only one side.

Posted by gromgoru 2007-01-26 13:20|| 2007-01-26 13:20|| Front Page Top

#6 Jules: The Kurds have no love for Iranian Shiites. And if the US and the Sunnis want to replace the Alawite regime in Syria with a Sunni majority, it just might make an excellent opportunity for the Syrian Kurds to break off and join with the Iraqi Kurds.

gromgoru: Just because it is highly unlikely that the Arabs will ever be our true friends, does not mean that we might find great advantage in a friendly, if temporary, entente with them. Mutual self-interest and all that.

Remember that our conquest of Iraq, and the resulting functional democracy has put tremendous pressure on every dictator in the ME, resulting in incremental democratic change about everywhere.

By being the force that can unify their self-interest against the Iranians, we will open the door to all sorts of opportunities purely in our interest.

For example, in past we realized after the Arab-Israeli war that Egypt did have the potential for having a serious army--if not yet. And this army might prove difficult to the US military at some future time. So when the opportunity presented itself, we decided to not only give them military hardware, but train with them.

Not a waste of money at all. Because the #1 thing we trained the Egyptian army was to know, beyond any shadow of doubt, to never, ever, to fight the US military. If necessary to overthrow their civilian leaders with a military coup and junta, but NEVER fight the US.

Well worth the investment. But anything we would pull off while the Arab world is unified against the Iranians would be aimed at the ME 20 or 30 years down the road.

We would slip in all sorts of democratic notions and supports, to keep the ball rolling there. We would lean on them to back off from Israel, yet put the blocks to Hamas and Hezbollah. We would possibly even get some WoT assistance with those countries leaning on their fanatics.

Just all sorts of goodies. With us smack dab in the middle of it.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-01-26 13:39|| 2007-01-26 13:39|| Front Page Top

#7 Give Syria to the Kurds and tell the Sunni's that it is enough that the Shia no longer control it and repress Sunni.

Posted by rjschwarz 2007-01-26 13:40|| 2007-01-26 13:40|| Front Page Top

#8 #6 Anonymoose, I though hard about my response to your post. And then I thought "Why bother?". Anybone who believes that USA profited by any dealings it had with Arabs is way beyond my poor powers of persuasion.

Posted by gromgoru 2007-01-26 14:04|| 2007-01-26 14:04|| Front Page Top

#9 Gromgoru, as long as the US burns oil, it will be profiting from something Arabs provide.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-01-26 23:27|| 2007-01-26 23:27|| Front Page Top

18:57 jacksonsa
23:44 Anguper Hupomosing9418
23:36 Anguper Hupomosing9418
23:31 Anguper Hupomosing9418
23:27 Anguper Hupomosing9418
23:22 Anguper Hupomosing9418
22:47 DMFD
22:38 gromgoru
22:31 xbalanke
22:26 Classical_Liberal
22:25 xbalanke
22:21 3dc
22:19 Xenophone
22:17 gromgoru
22:08 USN, ret.
22:05 xbalanke
22:05 USN, ret.
22:00 Eric Jablow
21:56 USN, ret.
21:53 Anguper Hupomosing9418
21:50 Verlaine
21:47 USN, ret.
21:43 Anguper Hupomosing9418
21:42 USN, ret.