Friday, September 07, 2007

The Temporary Thing

Britain had to re-occupy Iraq
during World War II, because the Sunni Arab dominated government (not the king) tried to
ally itself with the Nazis. At the time, many Arabs admired Nazism. Many still do. The Brits
again conquered country, using three divisions and taking three weeks to do it. The Brits found another bunch of Sunni Arab notables and told them they could
run things if they stayed away from the Nazis. That lasted for about a decade,
until the Sunni Arab politicians and generals decided that this democracy stuff
wasn't working for them. The royal family was massacred and parliament purged
of "disloyal" elements. The Sunni Arabs were back in absolute charge, via a series of
dictators, until Saddam Hussein was deposed in 2003.

Now, this is the critical
thing that many Americans don't understand, or even know. When Saddam was
deposed in 2003, most (well, many) Sunni Arabs believed they would only be out
of power temporarily.
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