President Bush's dilemma

As a Chicago machine politician 30 years ago once said"Chicago ain't ready for reform", the same thing should have been told to Bush about trying to bring American style democracy to the Middle East.Were you to have elections in any of the 23 Arab countries where there is no history and tradition of tolerance,cooperation and sharing of resources which are necessary to a functionaing democratic system ,you will undoubtedly have Islamists coming to power in some form or other andf causing havoc on the whole society.The Middle Eastern countries can only be effectively governed by having a strongman/dictator type at the head of each government.American boys will continue to die as long as Iraq is without a strongman to gain control through whatever means are necessary.Bush cannot admit he made a mistake because it is not a Texan's nature(especially one as arrogant as Bush) to do so regardless of how many American boys have needlessly given their lives and continue to do so on a daily basis.May God rest all of their souls.

The US has created it's own demise and has left it self in a position of immense debt and a total loss of credibility as an example of freedom and democracy. The Illegal war in Iraq has just highlighted its demise. Moreover, the lack of it's understanding and immoral and ill-principled stance to push Illegal actions regarding Serbia's province of Kosovo & Metohija will be the final nail in the self made coffin the US seems to be leading itself blinded by it's over-inflated self belief that all it does is right.

President Bush was not inspired to go to war in Iraq because of "God." I don't know what "God" he believes in but the Christian God prohibits these senseless and brutal acts of violence that have destoryed the lives of millions of people.

He was inspired by greed and power (the same thing Clinton was when he illegally bombed Serbia). Why don't you tell us the whole story? We aren't the general American public who eat up all the nonsense from CNN. Why don't you tell us the real motives (oil, geopolitical control)? Until you do, I ask why are we, as Serbs, interested in hearing your censored and misleading version of the truth.

But you are right that Bush made a catastrophic mistake. Close behind is Clinton's catastrophic mistakes in Yugoslavia which have given you nothing in return now.

"On the ground in Iraq, none of the three ethnic groups (Kurds, Shiite and Sunni) accept our vision of a unified, democratic Iraq. The Kurds want their own country. The Sunni want to go back to the days of Saddam when their minority absolutely ruled all of Iraq."

This sounds frightingly like the "we want well - they don't listen" rethorics we heared about Yugoslavia. And that is probably the reason why we see the same results.

There are two kinds of separatism. The language based
variant (like the Kurds or Slovenia) usually concerns people who already live mostly separated. So autonomy or independence usually solves the problem. But religion is not really an "ethnic" property. Populations tend to be mixed and separation leads to endless wars and cleansing - like we saw in Yugoslavia and now see in Iraq. In my opinion religious "ethnic" conflicts usually center on discriminination and the only solution is a policy aimed at denouncing and reducing discrimination. But this requires a hands-on approach that looks at how people are actually living. Not the kind of moral grandstanding with abstract principles that characterizes US policy.

The US never learned from Vietnam. Otherwise it wouldn't be in a mess today that it can't extricate itself from in Afghanistan and Iraq. Actually, it can still extricate itself ...... but only by fleeing these countries with its tail between its legs ..... a severe loss of face.

MIdle east crises are in its essence crises of energy polise today. Changing technologies and rejecting oil as primer energy resources with accepting new based on batteries will bring peace in the world for sure. Zero emission mandate in California must be applied to the entire world as same as Kyoto protocol. The world needs to start with this transition if it wants to stay alive for the next centuries. Without marked for oil that have, Middle East will have not resources to finance terrorism and weapons for mass destruction.
As final result, we might have small tribe wars in Middle East.

Montgomery disappoints me. He is 10% true and 90% misleading. I can't respect someone who lies 90% of the time.

Mr. Montgomery's article is very insightful, and I think his understanding is enlightening and broad. I find it presumptuous to assert that he or someone else somehow knows how to "project American power" to solve these intansigent and highly difficult and complex problems. Who, pray tell, has that great wisdom, vision, and strength of character, and is yet an earthly being? Surely it must be a composite, not necessarily an individual nor one particular party, but something created by intelligent citizenship and statesmanship. We can and we must hope for such in the coming election year.

As a Chicago machine politician 30 years ago once said"Chicago ain't ready for reform", the same thing should have been told to Bush about trying to bring American style democracy to the Middle East.Were you to have elections in any of the 23 Arab countries where there is no history and tradition of tolerance,cooperation and sharing of resources which are necessary to a functionaing democratic system ,you will undoubtedly have Islamists coming to power in some form or other andf causing havoc on the whole society.The Middle Eastern countries can only be effectively governed by having a strongman/dictator type at the head of each government.American boys will continue to die as long as Iraq is without a strongman to gain control through whatever means are necessary.Bush cannot admit he made a mistake because it is not a Texan's nature(especially one as arrogant as Bush) to do so regardless of how many American boys have needlessly given their lives and continue to do so on a daily basis.May God rest all of their souls.

President Bush was not inspired to go to war in Iraq because of "God." I don't know what "God" he believes in but the Christian God prohibits these senseless and brutal acts of violence that have destoryed the lives of millions of people.

He was inspired by greed and power (the same thing Clinton was when he illegally bombed Serbia). Why don't you tell us the whole story? We aren't the general American public who eat up all the nonsense from CNN. Why don't you tell us the real motives (oil, geopolitical control)? Until you do, I ask why are we, as Serbs, interested in hearing your censored and misleading version of the truth.

But you are right that Bush made a catastrophic mistake. Close behind is Clinton's catastrophic mistakes in Yugoslavia which have given you nothing in return now.

The US has created it's own demise and has left it self in a position of immense debt and a total loss of credibility as an example of freedom and democracy. The Illegal war in Iraq has just highlighted its demise. Moreover, the lack of it's understanding and immoral and ill-principled stance to push Illegal actions regarding Serbia's province of Kosovo & Metohija will be the final nail in the self made coffin the US seems to be leading itself blinded by it's over-inflated self belief that all it does is right.

"On the ground in Iraq, none of the three ethnic groups (Kurds, Shiite and Sunni) accept our vision of a unified, democratic Iraq. The Kurds want their own country. The Sunni want to go back to the days of Saddam when their minority absolutely ruled all of Iraq."

This sounds frightingly like the "we want well - they don't listen" rethorics we heared about Yugoslavia. And that is probably the reason why we see the same results.

There are two kinds of separatism. The language based
variant (like the Kurds or Slovenia) usually concerns people who already live mostly separated. So autonomy or independence usually solves the problem. But religion is not really an "ethnic" property. Populations tend to be mixed and separation leads to endless wars and cleansing - like we saw in Yugoslavia and now see in Iraq. In my opinion religious "ethnic" conflicts usually center on discriminination and the only solution is a policy aimed at denouncing and reducing discrimination. But this requires a hands-on approach that looks at how people are actually living. Not the kind of moral grandstanding with abstract principles that characterizes US policy.

MIdle east crises are in its essence crises of energy polise today. Changing technologies and rejecting oil as primer energy resources with accepting new based on batteries will bring peace in the world for sure. Zero emission mandate in California must be applied to the entire world as same as Kyoto protocol. The world needs to start with this transition if it wants to stay alive for the next centuries. Without marked for oil that have, Middle East will have not resources to finance terrorism and weapons for mass destruction.
As final result, we might have small tribe wars in Middle East.

Montgomery disappoints me. He is 10% true and 90% misleading. I can't respect someone who lies 90% of the time.

The US never learned from Vietnam. Otherwise it wouldn't be in a mess today that it can't extricate itself from in Afghanistan and Iraq. Actually, it can still extricate itself ...... but only by fleeing these countries with its tail between its legs ..... a severe loss of face.

Mr. Montgomery's article is very insightful, and I think his understanding is enlightening and broad. I find it presumptuous to assert that he or someone else somehow knows how to "project American power" to solve these intansigent and highly difficult and complex problems. Who, pray tell, has that great wisdom, vision, and strength of character, and is yet an earthly being? Surely it must be a composite, not necessarily an individual nor one particular party, but something created by intelligent citizenship and statesmanship. We can and we must hope for such in the coming election year.