Thursday, October 26, 2006

Reinstating dictatorship in Iraq (without reinstating Saddam)

3-1/2 years after toppling Saddam's government, the US has found itself in the crossfire of a civil war they can't control where they're looked on as the enemy by both sides of the conflict. It's a clusterfuck of almost unimaginable proportions, and the Maliki government installed by the US has proven weak and ineffective, if not counterproductive, to ending it. Recently it's been pointed out that the Iraqi death toll since the war began has far exceeded the numbers massacred by Saddam, with no end in sight. Even the notion that things were better under Saddam is being considered. Nobody defends Saddam's monstrous ways, but his iron-fisted rule was all that kept Iraq, torn with tribal conflict, from imploding as it is now. Nothing will change as long as the Maliki government is in "power", and obviously letting Saddam out of his prison cell and reinstating him as president isn't an option. But something is afoot, and it looks like Maliki's days are numbered.