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Originally Posted by Cali Coug
Which of your questions did I ignore?
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Start with these:
How do you plan to deal with the fallout of leaving an unstable regime in the region? What will you tell our friends there, especially Arabs who will see Persian dominance of a fellow Arab state?
How will you protect our Kurdish friends in the north from reprisals/dominance from Iraqis, Iranians, and Turks?
How will you prevent a civil war and what are the contingencies should one break out?
How will you deal with those Iraqis who worked with us and will certainly face reprisals at the face of those we are fighting? For example, what about the tribal chieftans in Anbar province?
How will you secure our diplomatic facilities and diplomats in country, or is the plan to significantly reduce that presence as well?
As best as I can tell, I guess these are your responses:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cali Coug
Ideally, our withdrawal from Iraq prompts the Iraqis to get far more serious about internal progress and they accomplish what you have set up as our goal in Iraq.
As for the Kurds, they are likely easier to protect than the Sunnis. Turkey is susceptible to influence, due to their strong desire to be integrated into the EU. The Iraqis have shown, at least of late, a willingness to be more tolerant of the Kurds. The recent oil agreement is an example.
As to how we prevent a civil war and what the contingencies are, those are issues that must be answered whether we are in Iraq or not, likewise with the tribal chieftans.
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Where's the beef? Sounds like a lot of hopeful thinking and expectation. We will be able to exert diplomatic pressure on Turkey not to attack Kurds in Northern Iraq? They take shots at them already and we're there. Why do you think our absence will increase our ability to influence their actions? I think it likely that they will increase their cross border activity, destablilizing the one part of the Iraq that appears to be actually working. What would prevent Sunnis from cooperating with Turkey to decrease Kurdish power?
While you're contemplating those questions, here's one that is very near and dear to Dem hearts. How will you prevent Al Qaeda from taking advantage of the internal instability and setting up more training facilities inside Iraq? That Cato piece acknowledges the presence of training camps. Aren't these terrorists our real targets?
We haven't even discussed Israel's reaction to our pull-out.
Or do you agree with Obama when he says the internal situation may necessitate we keep our troops there beyond his timeframe for withdrawal?