nabilfannoush

Sorry didn't get back to you right away, Ray. Time difference.

An answer or a suggestion? That's the million dollar question everyone's hoping for an answer. One thing for sure: The Bush Administration and armed forces don't have it, or even get it. One can't help but think that the moment an American soldier, good honorable capable soldier that he is, set foot on Iraqi soil it was already too late.

Like I said I've known the country and its people for a very very long time and one has to understand that increasing foreign military intervention is actually a factor to the problem: It is providing various radical armed factions the 'grounds' and 'purpose' for armed conflict, misguided and outrageous as they are. Take a look at what's happening there right now. i've been there: even the two bitter enemies Sunni insurgents and radical Shi'ite elements are fighting the US forces there tooth and nail, no matter what the media says, with heavy casualties in US forces and the helpless civlian population. And now Al-Qaeda has a foothold in the country because after the chaos ensuing the invasion it is now a place where they can target Americans and blow up civilians in the name of 'Jihad' against Americans and 'traitors' who 'help them',
(yes, I know that there are certain people in the Bush administration who say that Saddam Hussien was an ally of Al-Qaeda, but anyone who is familiar with the Iraqi regime before-Americans included- would tell you that this is impossible and not even worth discussing).
It's hard to say this, but I don't see any quick fix for the mess in Iraq now. Any fix is going to have be long-term, arduous, and any desire for a particular political system will have to be at least for now put aside until the basics for stability have been acheived, and I'm afraid a lot more blood has to be shed, lives lost and property destroyed before things start to improve, and for things to improve the Iraqis themselves need to follow a a self-imposed strategy of enforcing relative peace and the world community as a whole must be more active in the rehab process in a positive and not a solely military role, particularly the neighboring nations that share at least a partial understanding of Iraqis and connecting to them: You can fence yourself in, but you can't shut the entire world out. Eventually the conflict will cave from internal and external pressures ( a situation that bears several certain similiarities with what happened in Northern Ireland).
What's worrisome is that there are noises in the White House about an increase in US forces there. This has long ceased being a solely military situation and such an increase for the reasons I've stated above will only complicate the situation further. This has to stop, or Vietnam, Northen ireland and post-soviet Afghanistan will pale by comparison