Recently, the Palestinians have come to an agreement to form a unity government. It is a shaky peace, at best. The US and Israel are not too keen on the agreement. Why? It benefits Israel for the conflict to continue and it was a helluva coincidence that the work on the al-Aqsa mosque stirred up confrontation while the sides were meeting in Saudi Arabia. I do not believe in coincidences in politics, especially in the ME. Of course western media is all over the clashes and made it appear that the Palestinians were the “bad guys”. Do not believe it! All would have been quiet and safe if the work had not begun and why is the al-Aqsa so important to repair at this time? Let us look, the Pals were getting good world press for their attempts to solve their problems within themselves. Not good for Israel.

Now Rice is sent to the area to try and jump start the peace process, at least that is the story. What a crock! She has made multiple trips saying the same thing and things have NEVER gotten better because of her visits. actually, things usually get worst after her appearance. It is nothing more than a photo op to make it appear that the Bush Admin is working for a lasting peace–THEY ARE NOT!

Ask yourself, why would she show up before a unity government is formed and the peace process is on old until the govt. is formed? No meetings, progress or anything else will be accomplished until that government is in place. So what benefit would her visit have? Only one! Show support for Israel and do a bit of antagonising of the Palestinian factions.

I say —-US keep your broads at home until they work out their government thing and then only show up if invited by the government. Israel can wait and if they truly want peace then they will go for a unity government that will negotiate in earnst.

IMO, Israel does not want peace–it would cost them a bunch from their cash cow–The US.

CHUQ
16/02/07

Does History Repeat?

Does history repeat itself?…………..Does history…………..?

Alrighty then–let us check into our way-back machine, set the dial for Iraq 1920. The San Remo conference has given us the Iraq Mandate. Which gave the UK control over the area. The area being some indiscrimate lines drawn in the desert sand and called the country of Iraq. Before the ink even dried on the paper the attacks on the British began. Why? Well the Brits in their wisdom, used foreigners to be the admin of the newly formed country. Needless to say the locals were not thrilled with this decision. And the resistance grew and grew with lots of local deaths to add to the chaos. You see the UK failes to include local elites in the decision making and the admin of the country. By any stretch of the imagination, would piss you off also.

Arab nationalists were a big problem for the Brits. In 1941, the nationalists were causing a prob in Basra; the Brits sent in foreign troops and the upraisning was quelled in a bout 4 weeks. That sounds familiar for siome reason (sarcasm intended). After this the Brits still used elites to rule, they still did not have the approval of the locals. The Brits continued to throw their weight behind those leaders who were never part of the average way of life. The Iraqi leadership, at the time, had a very weak grip on power. Another very familiar sounding occurrance.

Now grab your butt and set the machine dial to 2003–Now we see we are in Iraq, Saddam has been diposed and the US has set up an interim govt. We have an American in charge of the interim govt and the list of players in the govt are ex-patriates, all wealthy and all living outside of Iraq for years. These peopl were chosen for their pro-US position, just as the original admin were chosen for their pro-Brit position. If you look closely at Iraq, the people do not have too much confidence in these “foreigners” and their attempt to run the country. De Ja Vu All Over Again!

So you see that the same mistakes are being made yet again. Nothing was learned originally and nothing was learned on the second trip to the table. Unfortunately, the second trip is costing Iraqi lives by the hundreds. There are forces at work within Iraq that give the “average” Iraqi more power in the decisions of their country. However, they are very unpopular with the US and its guys in Iraq. As you see the Brits did not ask for the Iraqis input into their government and neither did the US.

Each time, the interests of the occupying country were the main concern not that of the average Iraqi citizen. THe democracy thing was intersting, it was more a government that would have the interests of the occupyiers not the Iraqis.

I say let the Iraqis, the ones that stayed and faced Saddam, run their country they know exactly what is needed to bring themselves security.

I believe it was Einstein who said, Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. Maybe someone should read a little more and the same occurrances would not be happening.

Does history repeat itself? You bet your butt, it does.

CHUQ
12/02/07