[Paleopsych] islamic radicalism

[Paul J. Werbos, Dr.]

At 04:40 PM 3/6/2005, Steve Hovland wrote:
>In spite of all the propaganda about al Qaeda
>leadership in Iraq, the truth is that the insurgency
>is being led by the professionals of Iraq's
>old army.
>
>They are fighting a war of attrition and they have
>the British cemetary in Baghdad as proof that they
>did it once and can do it again.

We have occasionally commented on the way in which wishful thinking and 
narcissism
have caused less than optimal policies by the current Administration -- and 
on pobbilities
to be more effective.

But Bush is certainly not the only human being in this situation.

As I understand it, the Baathist leadership and Al Queida are engaged
in a very ancient kind of "dance," in the spirit of old Fu Manchu movies.
Each thinks it has the longest knife ready to strike into the back of the 
other,
unseen and unprepared for.

In my view, the Al Quieda and its allies have the longer knives, in places
where the Baathists would never see them until too late.

It is a shame, in a way, because the original premises of the baathists seemed
a lot more progressive that a lot of what we see now in the area, in certain
key respects. They might have a lot to contribute as a PART
of a democratic state, if some of the corruption of recent decades could be
cleansed/reduced.   But corruption is hard to recover from
quickly after many, many years.

My suggestion of an "Iraqi Sovereignty Recognition Act,"
as a way of ADDRESSING the Sunni request for a definite withdrawal
timetable, might have helped in the recovery.

Whatever.

Best of luck to us all...

    Paul



>Steve Hovland
>www.stevehovland.net
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From:   Michael Christopher [SMTP:anonymous_animus at yahoo.com]
>Sent:   Sunday, March 06, 2005 11:44 AM
>To:     paleopsych at paleopsych.org
>Subject:        [Paleopsych] islamic radicalism
>
>
> >>I don't think we can get out of having a large army
>unless you want to start speaking Arabic and attend
>compulsory services in the Mosque.<<
>
>--Does anyone really believe the Islamic radicals have
>the power to force Americans into mosques? They want
>to crush us economically, force us to withdraw from
>the Middle East in humiliation. They couldn't care
>less if we go to mosque or not.
>
>If we rely on military power without looking at our
>economic situation, their strategy may in fact work.
>The Soviets could not maintain a presence in
>Afghanistan for economic reasons, despite the
>advantage of a modernized military. Bin Laden knows
>what he's doing, and it doesn't depend on military
>victory but on systematically draining the US of
>resources, keeping it bogged down on as many fronts as
>possible while the dollar declines. If we are
>overstretched militarily, the draft isn't a good
>option (it would weaken support for the war
>considerably, and require the jailing of a huge number
>of resistors) and one can only rely so much on
>superior technology before the human element and
>economics become more relevant in success or failure.
>
>Michael
>
>
>
>
>
>__________________________________
>Celebrate Yahoo!'s 10th Birthday!
>Yahoo! Netrospective: 100 Moments of the Web
>http://birthday.yahoo.com/netrospective/
>_______________________________________________
>paleopsych mailing list
>paleopsych at paleopsych.org
>http://lists.paleopsych.org/mailman/listinfo/paleopsych
>_______________________________________________
>paleopsych mailing list
>paleopsych at paleopsych.org
>http://lists.paleopsych.org/mailman/listinfo/paleopsych