3/24    THE WAR THAT WILL CHANGE THE WORLD
        http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/71309.htm
        \_ The New York Post is a tabloid with about as much credability as
           as the weekly world news.  Please don't post NYP articles, it just
           makes you look like a moron.
           \_ oh, as opposed to freerepublic
           \_ is there a list of 'motd acceptable' news sources?  I should we
              should only allow NPR quotes and Salon.
        \_ This is a serious question. What makes you think that our attempts
           to create a democracy by force in Iraq will be any more successful
           than our attempts in Afghanistan, Panama, Haiti, etc?
                \_ We never attempted in Afghanistan, it seem to be going
                   as well as expected thus far.  It worked in Japan,
                   South Korea, Europe, Taiwan, Chile, and was working in Iran.
                   What is the alternative? I propose there are only two:
                   1) kill the Arabs ala colonial Europe or Rome.
                   2) make it more attractive economically to lay down arms
                   and live and prosper with a non-belligerent society.
                   \_ Taiwan?  South Korea?  Europe?  What the heck are you
                      talking about?
                        \_ history?
                           \_ History?  US invaded Taiwan to bring about
                              democracy while it is under dictator CKS?
                                \_ You do not build weak, nascent democracies
                                   to counterbalance the Soviets.  You align
                                   with stable dictatorships with capitalistic
                                   tendencies in order to transition to liberal
                                   styles of government.
                                   This was the essence of US Cold War policy,
                                   I'm actually expected to explain this?
                                   \_ Sure, but how is this relevant?  We are
                                      talking about the feasibility of a direct
                                      US invasion and regime change here.
                                      This is not analogous to any of the
                                      countries you mentioned except Japan and
                                      Germany.  Vietnam, for example, blew up
                                      in our face because while we were thinking
                                      of fighting against communists and the
                                      soviets, we miscalculated vietnamese
                                      nationalism.
                                      \_ "except Japan and Germany" is the
                                         point.  thanks.
                                         \_ I would grant you that, but I
                                            would also point out that Japan
                                            and Germany were actually occupying
                                            nations they invaded when we decided
                                            to topple their regimes.  Perhaps
                                            there are better ways to change /
                                            mellow out the regime in Iraq under
                                            scenarios similar to what happened
                                            in places like Taiwan and South
                                            Korea, given that there is limited
                                            evidence that we would be successful
                                            in building a democracy in Iraq.
                                            How much effort and resources are
                                            we willing to devote to this
                                            enterprise, or would we just get
                                            another puppet dictator, someone
                                            like Ferdinand Marcos or the
                                            Saudi sheiks, who constantly steal
                                            from their people?