A way for W to cut his Iraq problem in half?

[Boojatta]

Suppose Iraq were divided into a Western Zone and an Eastern Zone. Security in the Eastern Zone could be provided by either Russia or China.

Lots of Iraqis might dislike the idea of their country being divided in half, but wouldn't that be better than civil war?

[rzemanfl]

1. And then we can build a big fucking wall right through the

heart of Baghdad. Sheesh, what a horrible idea. Who gets the half with the oil?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. I'm sure that Iranians,

with their history that goes back to Persia and before, would willingly allow themselves to be approtioned-NOT. Russia is making overtures to Iran right now; they will be interested in keeping the country (and its oil reserves) intact.

[Boojatta]

4. This thread is about IraQQQ, not IraNNN

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. oops!

Sorry. :)

[Boojatta]

10. No problem. The Iran situation is just a war of words right now. Let's

hope that it remains just a war of words.

[enigma000]

3. You want to offer half of Iraq to the Russians and the Chinese?

The Iraqis might have a problem with this. And their new government (if it ever gets going) will be far more pro-Iran than Russia or China.

[Boojatta]

5. The idea isn't that Russia or China would own the Eastern Zone.

The idea is that Russia or China would provide security in the Eastern Zone.

[enigma000]

6. It's not a bad idea to internationalize this problem

but I fear the Russians and Chinese might be seen as willing to move in permanently. And while Iraqis may fear the same of the US, they know the American people have a short attention span and will want their troops how sometime soon. The Chinese government certainly have much less public pressure to cope with.

[Boojatta]

12. Re fear the government of Russia or China might keep a presence in Iraq

It's not a bad idea to internationalize this problem, but I fear the Russians and Chinese might be seen as willing to move in permanently.

If there are reasons that the Russian government is reluctant to provide security in one zone of Iraq, then is it possible that those reasons might motivate the Russian government to keep troops in Iraq only for a temporary period of time?

Same question for the government of China.

One more question: what ideas do you have for internationalizing the problem?

[hvn_nbr_2]

8. I'm probably crazy to even respond to this

When a country's divisions are three-way ethnic divisions, you want to divide it into two geographically?

Just why would China and Russia want to bail us out of the mess we made? Are they so buddy-buddy now that they'd want to jump into this cesspool together?

[madokie]

9. it was a silly notion I agree. it would only double * problems

[Boojatta]

13. I don't see anything crazy about discussing things on a discussion board

"When a country's divisions are three-way ethnic divisions, you want to divide it into two geographically?"
Why do you raise the issue of ethnic divisions?

"Just why would China and Russia want to bail us out of the mess we made?"
Maybe Russia or China would be motivated by a desire, not to bail out the USA, but simply to play a larger role in the Middle East.

[madokie]

15. it would be for humantarian reasons i'm sure

the poor iraqi citizens are taking a real fucking from the coallition.

[oblivious]

11. This is funny. "Come join us in the quicksand. It's nice!"

Or "Can you pull us out of the quicksand and jump in afterwards?"

Like the Russians didn't learn anything from Afghanistan.

Like any other country would be stupid enough to go into Iraq now. Most of the fake allies have already come and gone. Only the hard-core obtuse remain.

[Boojatta]

14. "Like the Russians didn't learn anything from Afghanistan."

What did the Russians learn from Afghanistan? Did they learn that if they mess up a country then they can just leave? Maybe Russia should be providing more humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

[oblivious]

16. I guess they learned the meaning of 'quagmire'.

And how foreign adventures can bankrupt an empire.