Comments on: Good enough

By: feeblemind

feeblemind — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:09:12 +0000

I wouldn’t be surprised if Iraq follows the track of Yugoslavia. Works for a few years but then old ethnic hatreds flare up and the country breaks apart.

By: NahnCee

NahnCee — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:17:02 +0000

I like the part about having to work hard to be successful in America. I think that’s the image the rest of the world has, is streets paved with gold, bread falling from heaven, and everyone sleeping in and/or playing all day.

If the concept of just getting up in the morning and going to work could percolate around — not least to Iraq — then can you imagine how successful some of these deadbeat countries could become?

By: Staring In Disbelief

Staring In Disbelief — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:06:47 +0000

I think it is important to remember that the great strength of democracy as a system of government is not that it transforms people overnight into angels (”If men were angels, no government would be necessary. Federalist #51), but gives all factions a means to fight it out without guns and the risk that a losing fight results in their physical annihilation. Once a large majority is willing to let the losers in the fight live (beacuse it may be them someday), democracy provides a framework for rational, group-based decision making that 1.) learns from it’s mistakes and 2.) acts on this learning with changed behavior. Enlightened self-interest in a framework free of terror and murder all democracy’s genius requires to begin improving the lot of the vast bulk of a society. It is Western cultural strengths that allow us to employ democracy’s tools to a achieve a much greater level of civilizational development, but along a similar path for similar reasons. Once reasonably rooted with provincial elections and then new national elections, Iraq will be solidly on its way barring overt acts of war from Iran that the US allows to occur.

By: Rudee

Rudee — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:56:16 +0000

Mike,
i hope you are correct. She has made it through her first year and is in a much better position than many.
Mike and Darrell, I witnessed a profound lack of intellectual curiosity indeed curiosity of any sort. I think it comes from not only years of oppression but also the culture. There is the fear that if you ask too many questions something will go wrong. Everything in done with a certain amount of subterfuge and superstition. But there is alos a clear lack of rational thinking. If you want to get to d you must first get through a b and c in that order. It’s like the Iraqi splice for electrical wiring, probably caused more building damage than bombs.
Getting her to believe in her worth and value as a human being was a challenge in many respects. The interesting thing about this sort of living is a simmering anger and over emotionalism about small things. The victim status.

E-nigma I meant not that he was the US’s monster but the Iraqi’s

Back to Wretchard’s original post. Iraq will take a very long time, i initially saw it as a 20-30 year project, now I see 50-60 years. Leaving after 8-9 just won’t be enough.

By: deb

deb — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:59:06 +0000

Life of the Mind: The reason that God made the Israelites wander in the desert for 40 years was to ensure that the generation that had been brought up in slavery died off before entering the Promised Land. Once two generations had been raised in freedom the people were fit to have the new country.

Ruby:
That is not correct. God told Moses to preach and water would come from the rock. Instead of preaching, Moses struck the rock, twice, as though it was his own power that brought water. And this hacked the LORD off, so he said Moses would not lead the people into Canaan.

Me: Well, that is why MOSES didn’t enter the promised land, but not why the rest of them didn’t. The people wandered for 40 years until everyone that believed the 10 spies that insisted they couldn’t take the land were dead. Only Caleb and Joshua survived to enter the land. Numbers 14

By: Darrell

Darrell — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 05:59:27 +0000

Dr T, your comment on Russia strike a chord, my son’s girlfriend is from Russia, I showed her the hot for words site, telling her there was a famous Russian women on there, I thought she would be proud but it was the opposite, she frowned and said “in Russia we look down on smart or successful people” “It is never good to appear smart” I just winced as I saw what it meant for her culture, and how it would hurt her future in the USA.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 05:43:25 +0000

Wretchard’s post touches on what is easily the most frustrating thing about the war in Iraq, and also the most historically unique thing (though I doubt it will stay unique for long). Barring an armistice of some kind, wars usually end after the winning and losing sides have been clearly determined. But in this war, we are basically relying on the Iraqis to finish the fight we started, which means we really won’t have any way of knowing whether we’ve won until long after we’ve left.

By: Mike Sylwester

Mike Sylwester — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:41:51 +0000

Rudee, you have given your guest a profound experience. Do not underestimate your influence on her or underestimate her future influence on many others.

Her experience with your family is only the beginning of a long intellectual journey that she will continue for the rest of her life. This experience will influence her always as she reads books, listens to discussions, watches films and participates in social and political activities.

By: E. Nigma

E. Nigma — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:41:41 +0000

I would only quibble with the notion that Saddam Hussein was “our monster”. He was a consequence of the adsorption by the politically primitive Arab with infectious, but sick, Western ideas, such as fascism and communism. Western nations had already tried out these ideas with differing levels of tragedy and failure, but it was new to the Arab.
Saddam was extensively trained in Soviet methods by the Soviet intelligence organs in the 1960’s (read “Republic of Fear”). Saddam, as were many of his officers, etc., trained by the Soviets in their methods and organization. Their military had heavy Soviet influence under Saddam, and were largely equipped by the USSR. Their intelligence services (the Mukhabarrat) were heavily influenced and co-ordinated with the KGB and GRU.
There were times when the US courted Saddam to gain influence, but our effectiveness was at most very superficial and limited.

Sometimes, it is not all about us.

A friend of mine who was an officer serving a year in the Green Zone told me the report he wrote upon leaving was heavily influenced by “Inshallah”. Many Iraqis are very fatalistic in ways Americans can hardly fathom. He was not too optimistic about the future of Iraq, yet he thought that “some day” things will get better.
Some Iraqis yearn for the freedom and opportunities of the West, and the people end up in Western Europe, Canada or here in the US. When those sorts of people can easily leave the country because they cannot overcome “inshallah”, then you know that the rest are hardly likely to rise above it either.

By: Mike Sylwester

Mike Sylwester — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:14:07 +0000

Some people are brave leaders, and they will set good examples for others to follow. In a society where the masses have been intimidated and suppressed, many people are looking very attentively for such leaders to step forward. Then they will watch those brave people very attentively. In such a situation, a few leaders can make a profound impression on many ordinary people.

Every such leader in Iraq will have suffered and fallen and picked himself up. None will have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth and have coasted through life. They will understand how to deal with the difficulties and seize the opportunities of their own society.

Iraq will have many problems but will make steady progress.

I have been married for 14 years to a Lithuanian woman, so I have visited Lithuania every year for the past eight years. I see progress every year. Most obvious to the foreign tourist is the construction and renovation of buildings. The shopping malls there look like the shopping malls here in the USA.

Less obvious but more important is the social transformation. Practically everyone has traveled abroad. Many have lived and worked abroad. The young generation speaks good English and uses computers. They attend colleges and study business management, computer technology, chemical engineering, law. Housewives who have raised their children become accountants or sell real estate.

Iraq can have a similar future. Its oil gives it huge economic potential. In 25 years Iraq might be the most modern, wonderful country in the Middle East.