Moon the Need for SPS

This is purely politics and has little to do with the purpose of this list
IMHO, but since you started it I will offer you the view that there is a
subject in your reasoning that doesn't exist as a single entity, you are
mixing two very different things in it.
That subject is "US".
The "US" who decided to go at war over Iraq is not the same of that who is
paying the bill.
The first "US" is the current hawk administration who has strong political
backing by two major economical lobbies (between others): oil and heavy
industry, in particular weapon manufacture. The other "US" is made of the
general American public who has been sold Saddam as a defender of freedom
when Iran was seen as a major threat to the interest of the friends of the
current administration. At that time they paid large sum of public money
into the pockets of weapons manufacturer to arm Saddam. They have more
recently bought it again, this time as a supporter of international
terrorism, despite the fact that every intelligence agency, in US and
abroad, denied any basis to that claim.
The thing in common with these two faces of the Iraqi dictator (and don't
get me wrong I wouldn't ever dream to defend Saddam as a positive figure in
any sense!) is that the friends of this administration have made a fortune
again also in this occasion.
Yes, the "US" is spending 4x on Iraq compared to what it imports from the
whole of the Middle East, but that is American public money. Much of it is
going into weapons industry and even more is being spent on industrial
infrastructures that will make money to another group of friends of the
current administration.

Iraq was a first rate economy before this bunch of nice guys started to work
on it, let's not forget that. The problem with all Arab people, and not
Iraqi alone, is that they don't like foreigners on their land, they never
did, not even when they are other Arabs. Things are slightly complicated by
the fact that "their land" is claimed by all at the same time. If you look
back at the history of the Arab world since the end of WWI when the first
Arab nations emerged from the left overs of the British and French colonial
empires they have done nothing else than fight each other and backstab each
other in the back at the first opportunity. How on earth can you expect them
to suddenly fall in love with Americans now? With the same people that
starved them for over a decade, support Israel and are now occupying their
country with tanks?
Face it, the main reason to oppose the war in Iraq has always been that it
would be another Vietnam and would destabilize the region. Every expert,
including the American ones warned of it. Surprise surprise, it's exactly
what's happening.
The "US" made of the American public has already paid a very heavy toll of
blood and money (again), and will only pay more and more, but the people who
took the decision in the face of the opposition of the entire democratic
world, despite public opinion and in flagrant breach of every international
law, they haven't paid nothing. Quite the contrary, their businesses are
going better than ever. Would that have something to do with why they took
that decision in the first place? Surely not, that would be another
anti-American conspiracy theory, no doubt.

The saddest part is that unfortunately you are right on one point, pulling
out now it won't do any good. Probably the best thing that can be done now
is to put the whole mess back in the hands of the UN, where it should always
have been. That way you could pull off as fast as possible replacing the
occupation troops with Arab or accepted-accepted contingents. A UN political
cover would still no doubts need a major US and UK military backing anyway,
but would have a much easier life stabilizing the region. That probably
would require splitting the country in it's ethnic components, modern Iraq
as a nation is an artificial construct created with the declared intent of
facilitating the control over the oil producing region. It's made of
different ethnic groups that hate each other and had never stopped to fight
for independence. The best that could be achieved is probably a UN supported
federation of independent states.
There is a problem though: that would go against the private interests of
the same old group of people who, once again, happen to be those same ones
who actually have to take the decision... mmm, let me guess... we won't get
that, isn't it? :)
What it's more likely to happen IMHO is that the oil producing region and a
few other essential centers will become highly militarised fortified
enclaves in a apartheid regime, while the rest of the country and of the
people will be left into abrupt misery and in a civil war state for another
decade or two. That of course would cost the lives of a few hundred or maybe
even thousand more Americans, and countless billions of public spending, but
if you happen to know the right people (and have a solid stomach) it will
make you a fortune. As usually. This is pretty much the reason and the
mechanics behind every war, not just this one. Name and places changes, but
the story is always the same I'm afraid.

SPS won't change the story, just the places and the people. We need another
few hundred thousand years of evolution to fix the real problem IMO, after
all to paraphrase a famous anthropologist, we've been killing and eating
each other for a couple of millions years, and it's only two thousand or so
since the first person who came up with the idea that maybe there is another
way to live together has been nailed to a cross for it, give it some time...

Well, at least that's what *I* really think. Don't really expect to convince
anyone, just wanted to give a ring to the other bell, just for the sake of
discussion... :)

Cheers,

Claudio

"Eye per eye will make the humanity blind." (Ghandi)