Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Before the invasion of Iraq

I asked one question repeatedly of some of the more conservative individuals at a message board I used to frequent until it became too wanky to continue and I started this blog where I could have the suckitude all to myself. There's little point in hanging out and talking politics when 6 of 10 posters are spewing Limbaugh talking points, and the occasional literate conservative is citing "The Corner".

But that's neither here nor there.

The question I asked was before March 2003 was; "What if the invasion of Iraq leads to civil war?". After all, it has been pretty consistent in history that when a dictator is overthrown, without sufficient power to occupy the vacuum, a complete breakdown in societal structure inevitably results. It didn't happen in Germany or Japan in World War II, but one need only look at the extent of their defeat and the strength of the occupation to observe how such a situation was avoided.

But otherwise, civil war is quite possible. You also had history in Iraq to go by. Though it seems to some a billion years ago, the British were not exactly able to avoid civil war in Iraq in the 1920s.

Well the response was generally this:

(1) Well sure, but that won't happen.

OR

(2) Iraq is a secular society, they're too well-educated to go down that path.

Or, Finally the most common response:

(3) Shut up you wuss, you America-hater, U.S.A.!! U.S.A.!! I love me some stuff blowed up real good!


What's amazing is that I doubt any of those people have actually changed their minds enough to concede that maybe, just maybe, the critics were right.

The lesson? In regard to that last type of answer, a gigantic and disproportionate chunk of that 34% are on message boards. And they can stay there. Do not go out, do not vote, and for the love of all that is holy, do not breed.

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