[Rhodes22-list] Politics--Ted Koppel on Iraq

[Hank]

Herb,

Very well said.  I agree wholeheartedly.

Hank

On 7/21/06, Herb Parsons <hparsons at parsonsys.com> wrote:
>
> There are too many things I disagree with in the editorial to list them
> all, but if I tried to fairly sum up the thrust, it would be this:
>
> That democracy is doomed to fail in the Mideast, and they treat it only
> as a commodity, and there is evidence to support that.
>
> If that IS the thrust of the argument, here's why I disagree that the
> evidence means it will fail.
>
> I remember a nation that once based it's creation on the notion that
> all were to be created equally.
> * They supported slavery.
> * They spent their first 100 years or so virtually eliminating their
> native population, while denying them any rights
> * They didn't allow women to vote.
> * They required land ownership as a pre-requisite to voting.
> * Their initial constitution had so many initial flaws in it that they
> added ten amendments that are now considered so obviously basic that
> they've been labeled the "bill of rights". It took almost 20 years to
> get THOSE added.
>
> Yet somehow, in spite of all the initial mis-steps, that nation, and
> their democracy, survived.
>
> Sorry, but initial failures in the "democratic experiment" in the
> mideast will never do anything to dissuade me from it's importance, or
> its possible success.
>
> Herb Parsons
>
> S/V O'Jure
> 1976 O'Day 25
> Lake Grapevine, N TX
>
> S/V Reve de Papa
> 1971 Coronado 35
> Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana Coast
>
> >>> bill at effros.com 7/21/2006 7:44:01 am >>>
> Herb,
>
> Here is a column by Ted Koppel in today's NYT. Please read it, I'd like
>
> to know what you think of it. I think it is a point of view that must
> be
> carefully considered.
>
> Bill Effros
>
> Look What Democratic Reform Dragged In
> July 21, 2006
> Guest Columnist
>
> By TED KOPPEL
> The New York Times
> Printer Friendly Format Sponsored By
>
> The United States is already at war with Iran; but for the time being
> the battle is being fought through surrogates.
>
> That message was conveyed to me recently by a senior Jordanian
> intelligence official at his office in Amman. He spoke on the condition
>
> of anonymity, reflecting gloomily on the failure of the Bush
> administration's various policies in the region.
>
> He reserved his greatest contempt for the policy of encouraging
> democratic reform. "For the Islamic fundamentalists, democratic
> reform
> is like toilet paper," he said. "You use it once and then you throw
> it
> away."
>
> Lest the point elude me, the official conducted a brief tour of recent
>
> democratic highlights in the region. Gaza and the West Bank, where
> Hamas, spurned by the State Department as a terrorist organization, was
>
> voted into power last spring and now represents the Palestinian
> government; Lebanon, where Hezbollah, similarly rejected by the United
>
> States, has become the most influential political entity in the
> country;
> and, of course, Iraq, where the Shiite majority has now, through
> elections, gained political power commensurate with its numbers.
>
> In each case, the intelligence officer reminded me, the beneficiary of
>
> those electoral victories is allied with and, to some degree, dependent
>
> upon Iran. Over the past couple of months alone, he told me, Hamas has
>
> received more than $300 million in cash, provided by Iran and funneled
>
> through Syria. He told me what has now become self-evident to the
> residents of Haifa: namely, that Iran has made longer-range and more
> powerful rockets and missiles available to Hezbollah in southern
> Lebanon. We'll come back to the subject of Iraq.
>
> Only a couple of days after my meeting in Amman, I visited a
> then-superficially peaceful Lebanon, where I was introduced to Sheik
> Nabil Qaouk, the commander of Hezbollah forces in the southern part of
>
> the country. Sheik Qaouk, who also holds the title of general, wears
> the
> robes and turban of a Shiite religious leader. Indeed, he studied
> religion for more than 10 years in the Iranian holy city of Qom. He
> received his military training in Iran and his wife and six children
> still live there.
>
> Sheik Qaouk portrayed Hezbollah as being a purely defensive, Lebanese
> entity. But the more than 12,000 missiles and rockets that the sheik
> said were in Hezbollah's arsenal were largely provided by Iran.
>
> I asked about those newer, longer-range rockets mentioned by my
> Jordanian intelligence source. The sheik implicitly acknowledged their
>
> existence, but refused to talk about their capacities, with which the
> world has since become familiar. "Let our enemies worry," he said.
>
> When Sheik Qaouk talked about Israel and Hezbollah, his
> organization's
> ambitions were not framed in purely defensive terms. There is only
> harmony between Hezbollah's endgame and the more provocative
> statements
> made over the past year by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president.
> Both
> foresee the elimination of the Jewish state.
>
> Are the Israelis over-reacting in Lebanon? Perhaps they simply perceive
>
> their enemies' intentions with greater clarity than most. It is not
> the
> Lebanese who make the Israelis nervous, nor even Hezbollah. It is the
> puppet-masters in Tehran capitalizing on every opportunity that
> democratic reform presents. In the Palestinian territories, in Lebanon,
>
> in Egypt, should President Hosni Mubarak be so incautious as to hold a
>
> free election, it is the Islamists who benefit the most.
>
> But Washington's greatest gift to the Iranians lies next door in
> Iraq.
> By removing Saddam Hussein, the United States endowed the majority
> Shiites with real power, while simultaneously tearing down the wall
> that
> had kept Iran in check.
>
> According to the Jordanian intelligence officer, Iran is reminding
> America's traditional allies in the region that the United States has
> a
> track record of leaving its friends in the lurch * in Vietnam in the
>
> 70's, in Lebanon in the 80's, in Somalia in the 90's.
>
> In his analysis, the implication that this decade may witness a
> precipitous American withdrawal from Iraq has begun to produce an
> inclination in the region toward appeasing Iran.
>
> It is in Iraq, he told me, "where the United States and the coalition
>
> forces must confront the Iranians.'' He added, "You must build up
> your
> forces in Iraq and you must announce your intention to stay."
>
> Sitting in his Amman office, he appeared to be a man of few illusions;
>
> so he did not make the recommendation with any great hope that his
> advice would be followed. But neither did he leave any doubts as to
> which country would benefit if that advice happened to be ignored.
>
> Ted Koppel is a contributing columnist for The Times and the managing
> editor of the Discovery Channel.
>
> Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
>
> __________________________________________________
> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> __________________________________________________
> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
>