Questions on Iraq

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1. There is a Sunni group that seems to be aligned with Al Qaeda fighting a government that seems to be aligned with Iran? Which dog do I have in that fight?

2. President Obama is looking into emergency military aid for the government. Republican hawks want air strikes. Which dog do I have in that fight?

7 thoughts on “Questions on Iraq”

  1. For #1, whoever can keep the oil pumping I guess, which to me would be Iran. I’m skeptical about paramilitary organizations trying to run oil companies. The learning curve is steep, I suspect.

    But then again, since the US has become a major oil producer again in the last five years, steady oil production in the Middle East probably doesn’t matter as much as it used to and may not actually be in (some of) our personal anymore.

  2. Your dog (and any superpower’s dog) in this (and other neighborhood level) fights is to keep them well supplied with ammunition till all they drop exhausted and ruined and crying for British/American protection. USA government is doing the right thing out of drunken confusion or clairvoyant genius.

    • The more pertinent question is probably “what dog do you NOT have in this fight?”

      Let’s say you are an elite. You don’t have military age kids or relatives in the military. How marginal does your view of benefits of another minor conflict have to be for you to not burn calories opposing it?

      This is why I think the democratic side’s meme of “we should ask more Americans to sacrifice for these minor conflicts” may be bass ackwards.

      • The thing is that if we get further 911s out of this it really will be bad for us.

        The problem was that all the good people were too eager to topple the bad old secular dictators, even after Iran/Al Qaida/brotherhood proved that it does get worse.

  4. While I accept Shiite Hezbollah as worse than Sunni Hamas on competence grounds, the Salafists are both worse and more likely to metastasize. The idea of them being a tarbaby for Iran/Hezbollah/Assad is just delusional. If a general war breaks out the winner will be terrifying, but I’d rather it be Iran than the Salafists.

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