Geopolitical Reasons Why Invading Iraq Was A Good Idea
 

First, lets look at the map:

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middl...t_pol_2003.jpg

Does anyone notice any nations that Iraq borders? Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria come to mind.

Does anyone notice which nation is sandwiched between Afghanistan and Iraq?

Imagine trying to win the War on Terror (aka the War on Jihadism) with Sadaam Hussein still in power. Imagine trying to win the War on Terror with Sadaam Hussein still paying Palestinian suicide bombers to keep the region destabilized.

It simply wasn't possible.

Now imagine a successful democracy next door to Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.

Iran is poised for another revolution, and if they see a successful secular Shiite democracy next door, that revolution is on its way.

Saudi Arabia is on a collison course with a violent revolution. 20 years ago, their per capita income was over $28,000. Today its under $7,000. This is one mismanaged nation with no intentions to reform. There is one obvious alternative to the Saudi Royal family: a Wahabi theocracy. There needs to be another alternative, and it needs to be broadcast into the homes of the Saudi people. If Al Jazeera sees a successful democracy in Iraq, that is independent, they will report it.

And then there is Syria. They border two other nations that should be mentioned: Israel and Lebanon. They've been an occupying and destabilizing force in Lebanon for many moons. They have been a perenial state sponsor of radical anti-Israeli terrorists for even more moons.

Look at the map again. Look at Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Syria as one block. Imagine these nations no longer depriving their people of basic human rights, and then deflecting governmental incompetence by blaming the U.S. Imagine the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolved, which would resolve the primary grievance that Arabs have with the U.S.

Now imagine these societies reintegrating into the world economy, after several centuries out of it.

What you end up with is an economically interdependent region that is once again prosperous and peaceful. The attraction to Jihadism will evaporate, and with it the terrorist threat to America.

This is why invading Iraq had everything to do with 9-11. If the underlying reasons that allowed Al Qaeda to execute 9-11 disapear, future 9-11s will simply not happen.

Its geopolitcal, and its that clear.

Hit the nail right on the head... a democratic Iraq doesn't sit well with the Saudis and the Iranians.

I dunno, the Iranians are pretty happy to get rid of Saddam. They are also pretty happy that Sistani is pretty much in charge of Iran.

My understanding is that Iranians are so peeved with the theocracy, that if a cleric wants to hail a taxi, he has to dress in secular garb. Otherwise he's walking.

I live next to Ft. Bragg and have not met one solider that disagreed with the war. I think we get all the horrible details of what happens everyday but loose the focus on what was happening before we got there and many more we dying each day at the hand of SH. It's dirty job but if we didn't so it who will, Thr French or Russians that were making millions from SH madness?

Democracy will spread like wildfire and choices that have never been available will, it is a great thing and we should support our troups!

Re: Geopolitical Reasons Why Invading Iraq Was A Good Idea
 

Then many people have been lead to believe that America was invading Iraq b/c of weapons of mass destruction.

Don't mean to sound like a pessimist, but It is to my understanding that simple geopolitics will not end international terrorism. It has existed for decades before 9/11...and will continue to exist. Maybe Al-Qaeda will fall..but other groups will replace it...and simply invading or "freeing" (as we all like to call it these days) does not seem like it will solve that problem.....it may actually aggravate the situation.


thats my two cents for the nite..!

I distinctly remember the geopolitical reasons for this war being covered long before we committed any troops to Iraq. This isn't something that is new, and if you think it is you were not paying attention to all of the reasons behind the war.

Yup, these ideas have been in print for more than a decade. Also, Bush never mentioned just one reason. He mentioned several, and he mentioned geopolitical reasons in simplified language for the masses. These ideas were ignored by most of the media, but not all. Tom Friedman won a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 discussing this.

I hope you are right, but that hasn't been true in the past.

Neither did the "domino theory" that when one country falls to Communism, all the others around it will as well.

Some countries are ready for democratic rule -- some aren't, unless you are ready to force it. And doesn't that defeat the purpose?

We know it's the best form of government, but it takes a while to force feed it to others.

Let's hope the domino theory does better in the Middle East then it did in South East Asia.

Iran is not only stronger but so is the theocratic hold upon the people. Iraq's fall was a major reason for this and so was the Taliban. Iran will not be having a revolution any time soon.

On Iran, so far, this administration along with the rest of the world, has failed.

-Rudey

There is very little this administration can do. Invasion is out of the question because if they do want to invade, logisitcally it's going to be hard unless they reinstate the draft. Diplomacy, forget about it, there is no high level communication between the two countries. Only thing Bush can do is play good cop bad cop with the Europeans. Striking the nuclear facility is not going to be as easy as what Israel did to Iraq. Unlike Iraq, Iran's site are spread about and there is little to no inteligence on the exact sites.

What do you think needs to be done with regard to Iran?

How do you know that a nation is not ready for democratic rule if the people aren't asked?

The devil is in the detail. If the same team (Rumsfeld, et al) are heading the state building exercise, I feel sorry for whatever country will have to endure exercise.