"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
news

Lets face it, we were duped into believing Iraq had WMD by Saddam's
bravado
and our own over-willingness to believe. The issue now is how are we
going
to extract ourselves from Iraq without looking like we were beaten off
(ala
Somalia) or leaving a goverment as brutal as Saddam's to maintain order.
Ultimately, Iraq like Yugoslavia is not a natural country and perhaps only
force can keep it together.


The issue is also how to bring some sense into how we are doing things
there. Lessee: these clerics are inciting people to throw bombs and missiles
at contractors who are bringing food and medical supplies into the area. The
clerics are so influential that they have enormous private armies that shoot
at anything that moves and whose people are willing to blow themselves up
and who do so on a regular basis. But we don't want to enter Najaf because
it might **** 'em off?

What, they are only a mite irritated right now and we don't want to get them
really mad?