Please continue discussions re the situation in Iraq and efforts to reform Iraq here.
The British should take over the administration of Iraq from the Americans simply because we are less likely to make a balls-up of it. We have much more experience and understand how to deal with people.
Rule Brittannia 
[quote=“BroonAle”]The British should take over the administration of Iraq from the Americans simply because we are less likely to make a balls-up of it. We have much more experience and understand how to deal with people.
Rule Brittannia [/quote]
I agree… when can the UK assume these responsibilities?
So you agree that the U.S. is under-qualified for the job?
No. I agree that I’d rather see the UK taking the lead and assuming the responsibilities.
Maybe you guys could bring in the Ghurkas.
So you agree that we are better at it than you?
No. I agree that I’d rather you guys do it than we do it.
[quote=“tigerman”][quote=“BroonAle”]The British should take over the administration of Iraq from the Americans simply because we are less likely to make a balls-up of it. We have much more experience and understand how to deal with people.
Rule Brittannia [/quote]
I agree… [/quote]
But I implied that the Americans had made a ball-up of it and you agreed…
[quote=“BroonAle”][quote=“tigerman”][quote=“BroonAle”]The British should take over the administration of Iraq from the Americans simply because we are less likely to make a balls-up of it. We have much more experience and understand how to deal with people.
Rule Brittannia [/quote]
I agree… [/quote]
But I implied that the Americans had made a ball-up of it and you agreed…[/quote]
No. Despite your implications, I have made it abundantly clear that I agree only that I would rather someone else assume the responsibilities of reforming Iraq… in this case, the UK.
The US does have experience in this sort of thing… most notably in Germany and Japan. Unfortunately, for the US in Iraq presently, CNN, the internet, NGOs and human rights awareness exist… these didn’t exist when the US was bringing about those spectacularly successful efforts in Japan and Germany.
How does India compare with Germany and Japan?
Well I suppose we will have to agree to differ on whether you agreed with my post or not. If you had only agreed in part you should have said so…
India: well it’s doing very well, all things considered.
Don’t forget we had charge over (then) 600,000,000 with only 100,000 Brits. You’ve got nearly double that for what 25,000,000? We were just better at it. And still are.
Actually Brune Ale:
As I understand it, the Scots were one of the key reasons for Britain’s success in India. You should be proud of yourself. I even cheered for Scotland in the Rugby 7s in Hong Kong last week. Of course, they were playing the French at the time…
Scotland is part of Britain and initial successful English administration of Scotland led a long time ago to the Scots having a say in how they run their own land, which is part of Britain.
Long Live The Empire!
Is Iraq becoming a quagmire?
Apr 6th 2004, Economist
http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2569565
Doesn’t appear to be so yet. The Economist is a magazine that I respect highly. If you read the article, it would appear that we are not quite there yet. This will take time, and I for one am worried now more than at any time during the past year, but I still believe that the trendline is positive. This may be viewed later as the Battle of the Bulge in our fight for Iraq. Pardon the pun, but we are not out of the woods yet, but within a year, Berlin surrendered. Damn Germans. Grr Grrr.
The Economist is British. Hooray! Long Live The Empire!
"Over the last three days, over 150 Iraqis have been killed by troops all over Iraq and it’s maddening. At times I feel like a caged animal- there’s so much frustration and anger. The only people still raving about ‘liberation’ are the Iraqis affiliated with the Governing Council and the Puppets, and even they are getting impatient with the mess.
Our foreign minister Hoshyar Zibari was being interviewed by some British journalist yesterday, making excuses for Tony Blair and commending him on the war. At one point someone asked him about the current situation in Iraq. He mumbled something about how there were ‘problems’ but it wasn’t a big deal because Iraq was ‘stable’
Excuse me Spook:
But the US has exercised extreme restraint (perhaps too much) and this is why the problem is occurring. Sadr is a gangster. Everyone in Iraq knows this. Just calling yourself a religious leader does not make it true. And he is supported by Iran and aligned with Hamas and Hezbollah. Pull your head out. This is why I am so keen to take the fight to Syria and Iran next. If they are busy worrying about their own survival, they will have fewer opportunities to play in Iraq.
Also in Fallujah, many are truly anti-American because with Saddam gone they have lost so much. They were never occupied nor saw the real war. It was over and we have a bit of Germany post WWI bitching about how it was stabbed in the back rather than attempting true reform. We need to take this concept of total defeat to them.
I recall the shah when asked by some “well-meaning” Leftie back in the 1970s why he did not rule like a Swedish monarch to which he replied, “When Iranians start behaving like Swedes, I will behave like a Swedish monarch.” Sorry but ditto for the Iraqis. Time for a bit more tough love in the Sunni Triangle.
fred
Reality sets in:
[color=blue]Former Iraqi enemies unite to fight U.S.
By P. Mitchell Prothero
BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 6 (UPI) – The American dream to bridge ancient Iraqi sectarian rivalries turned nightmarish Tuesday as Shiite and Sunni religious and tribal figures put aside their differences and publicly aligned against the occupation, vowing to rid Iraq of the American-led invaders.
In the past 72 hours over 18 U.S. soldiers and well over 100 Iraqis have died in vicious fighting across Iraq. U.S. aligned coalition forces also took significant casualties of an unconfirmed number in fighting in four southern cities.
Before last week the primary forces resisting the U.S. occupation were a combination of former Baath Party members and Sunni religious figures, but after fighting broke out between the coalition and a militia led by a young radical Shiite cleric, much of Iraq turned to complete chaos.
There are also indications that the two groups have come to an agreement to join with an al-Qaida affiliated terrorist group thought to have conducted widespread terrorist attacks against U.S. and Iraqi targets alike.[/color]
Sadr is not a Shia “cleric” in the sense that UPI is using it. If the organization cannot even get that right, why should we respect its analysis of the situation.
I am once again less worried abou this than my first reaction. Wait and see. This too is not the end of the world. Fallujah needs to be pacified. It has not gotten the message. Sadr is not a mainstream Shia “cleric” and as such will not generate a lot of support from the “masses.” He is strongly supported by Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran. We should have neutralized him earlier when he was weaker. We were exercising restraint. Now, we have to take care of this problem. We will and then what? Next week we will be back to lack of toys in village kindergartens and “Why isn’t the US doing something about it?!” Huh? 
Invading Syria and Iran is just the sort of suicidal “honest mistake” I’d expect neocons to be contemplating at this stage of things when the U.S. can barely maintain required troop strength in Iraq:
"The Pentagon said today that there will soon be a big increase in the number of American troops in Iraq . . . Mr. Rumsfeld did not mention a specific number of additional troops to be deployed in Iraq, but his remarks indicated that the current force of just over 130,000 would be bolstered by at least several thousand, and perhaps by much more.
Pentagon officials said this afternoon that thousands of troops from one division that had been scheduled to be returning home in the coming weeks will be kept in Iraq. Their retention, plus the addition of a division scheduled to enter Iraq, will effectively boost troop strength by up to a division