On Iraq; Biden Was Right

I'm not all that impressed with Joe Biden, but early on -- some years ago -- he said Iraq should be divided into three parts; namely, a part for the Kurds up north, a part for the Sunnis in the middle, and a part for the Shia down south.  And, while l don't have a crystal ball this is what now seems to be happening  except with a great deal more blood letting than was necessary.

Under Hussein, the Sunnis dominated Iraq.  Then after knocking over Hussein, we turned it over to Maliki who ruled it in behalf of the Shia.  Neither arrangement worked well.  If the Croats, the Serbs, and the Muslims can's live in together in a place once called Yugoslavia, what makes anyone think that the Sunni, Shia and Kurds can pull off this trick in Iraq?  We know Obama isn't very bright, but how do you account for the continuing stupidity of the U.S. Department of State?  These were the same idiots who said that anyone in Iraq who had been in the Baath Party could no longer hold a government job.  They couldn't be teachers, policemen, sanitation workers, etc.  So what happened? The place went to hell.

When you're dealing with countries that have no tradition of democracy, it's going to come down to a contest between two extremes.  In Chile it was the forces under Pinochet versus the leftists under Allende.  In Egypt it was the Muslim Brotherhood versus the Army.  And, in the middle of Iraq we set it up so that it would be the Sunnis versus the Shia.  (The Kurds, for all practical purposes, had already set up their own government.)

Under Pinochet, Chile evolved into a nation that we would recognize as a democracy.   In Egypt, with the defeat of the Muslim Brotherhood, the process has just begun.  In the middle of lraq, an extremist group has entered into the fray to dislodge the Shia from lands traditionally Sunni.  Should this come as a surprise?  The question is whether once the Sunnis have secured the land traditionally theirs can secularism be again established?  Or, will it become another Saudi Arabia?  To be continued.

Evolution to democracy seems to take far longer under communist control.  Look at Cuba.