Tuesday, February 18, 2003

Many bloggers (CalPundit, Thomas Spencer, the Goblin Queen) are linking this story from the U.K.'s Independent:

Kurdish leaders enraged by 'undemocratic' American plan to occupy Iraq

The US is abandoning plans to introduce democracy in Iraq after a war to overthrow Saddam Hussein, according to Kurdish leaders who recently met American officials.

The Kurds say the decision resulted from pressure from US allies in the Middle East who fear a war will lead to radical political change in the region.

The Kurdish leaders are enraged by an American plan to occupy Iraq but largely retain the government in Baghdad. The only changes would be the replacement of President Saddam and his lieutenants with senior US military officers....

The US appears to be returning to the policy it pursued at the end of the Gulf War in 1991. It did seek to get rid of President Saddam but wanted to avoid a radical change in Iraq. The US did not support the uprisings of Shia Muslims and Kurds because it feared a transformation in Iraqi politics that might have destabilised its allies in the Middle East or benefited Iran....


If you're pro-war, remember that you can't just support the war you hope the Bushies will fight. You don't have a choice in what they'll do, so you have to either support their war or oppose war altogether in this case.

What they do during and after the war will almost certainly be a cynical exercise that will appall dewy-eyed pro-war naifs.

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