But it worked so splendidly against the Soviets in Afghanistan!
The Instant Pundit
I remember that guy. Good times.
The Knights of Mesopotamia sound like extras out of a mediocre Victorian potboiler. Are they a shadowy Eastern secret society, or a benevolent association for impoverished British archeologists? The sorry truth---that they're a gang with a foreign-policy---would disappoint Wilkie Collins.
The Instant Pundit
Just add water!
I also vote for Farley's version over Krauthammer's psychedelic fantasy.
In all seriousness, Farley's reasoning looks pretty compelling to me, but I know fuck all about this area, so maybe I'm wrong yet again. Neverthelss, given that the big worry here has to do with the incompatibility of the local/tribal strategy and long-term stability of any sort (not just the success of Iraq as a state) it seems really goddamned annoying to say simply, hey, less violence means we're winning and how could we possibly leave right now?
In dealing with these people, as in dealing with my mother, the key is not to get angry even if this requires seeing them as malfunctioning robots.
So, how was the malfunctioning robot-cooked turkey?
Slol, if you have a really easy and uncomplicated relationship with your relatives, I'm driving out there and killing you. Just saying.
The turkey turned out well. Surprisingly moist. Of course, I'm dying of some food-borne illness right now, but it's a small price to pay.
malfunctioning robot-cooked turkey?
I'm 99.44% certain that you want an en dash there, and not a hyphen, Mr Erner.
I know I prefer my robots to cook functioning turkeys.
I did allow for the possibility that slol shares your preference, you know.
The Knights of Mesopotamia sound like extras out of a mediocre Victorian potboiler
or a great Monty Python sketch.
But the truth of this is we're in a new age of Open Source Governments where designer democracies permit everyone to enter the Realm of Kewl.
If we were to enter this war now, we'd enter on both sides.
Also, I'm not sure that the decreasing violence isn't due to everyone the insurgents wanted to kill being pretty much dead already.
You can save yourself the drive and the rap, FL. Unless of course you'd like to whack Mr. Ivory Soap Em Dash.
Iraq has also been sorted out into ethnically- and confessionally-homogenous zones, and I assume that many players are biding their time for a big push.
16: Exactly. Or if there isn't a big push there's going to be some stability of the sort Europe obtained right after WW2; a result of their ethnic migrations, forced or otherwise, and exhaustion.