Tani

bush has been stating now and again that the war is for the liberation of iraq etc etc. what i'm wondering is what should the coalition do if the major factions inside iraq want independece? exactly what shall the coalition do? help them with independece and break iraq up? or outlaw it by force - which would be an antithesis to the claimed cause?

eldar1011

I forsee the American Military Governorship in Iraq (it won't be the Coalition. Already, we're seeing the UK pull away from stated US policy in post-Saddam Iraq. Also, I find it very unlikely that the US will share administration of the Iraqi government with the likes of Eritreia and Uzbekistan) will prevent the Balkanization of Iraq by declaring that separatists are terrorists and would become state sponsors of terrorists.

They will go further by stating that the separatists do not represent the will of the majority of the Iraqi people. No referendum will be held to prove this, they'll simply have their appointed former-exiled Iraqi puppets state this as fact. As these puppets will be Iraqi, it will appear that they represent their people. Nevermind that they might were appointed by the Americans and not elected by the Iraqis.

Free elections or referendums will never be held to prevent any legitimization of the separatist cause. The American authorities will state that due to internal security concerns (terrorists, Saddam loyalist holdouts, Baath party zealots, fedayeen guerillas, etc.) elections cannot be held until safety and security are first restored.

Of course, it is the American presence that engenders such actions, which in turn prevent the lifting of said American presence. In Iraq, we'll see the same cycle of unending violence as currently played out in Israel/Palestine.

John Hancock

Yes eldar1011

Doesn't it remind you of some USA involvement in South East Asia?

Martin Buber

Mark

Hah! There are about 200 countries in this world, and america has troops stationed permanently in more than half of them. Would Iraq be any different?