In the beginning, I was all for the Iraqis killing each other. After all, ’twas the British who first set up a government there under the pretense of civilizing them. There never really was, or is a “nation of Iraq”. For them, they have little interest or knowledge of anything outside their own tribes. TV is still a very odd thing and though I can’t get in their heads a speak for how they might interpret “world news”, I do know that a great many of them are illiterate and don’t read a paper anyhow. They are just as likely to have a soccer match on the nearest television as anything else…and I have no idea how many channels there are in Iraq…but I’ll bet it ain’t many.

Americans fail to account for the information availability drop when considering the sand-people. For them, life hasn’t changed much since the crusades. Civilization, western style, hasn’t really reached much of the country, such as it is.

But one thing is for sure as Pro has said: The place will change considerably come the day the US military leaves. The strongest of the tribes will win power, the defeated tribes will be subjected to torture, rape and worse, there will be lots of screaming in the streets and then, after things settle down, they will realize they have NOTHING again and will simply operate in gang-fashion for gas, water, food, etc.

So call me an elitist….but I like living in civilization with a hot shower, a microwave and TV at the flick of a switch..my own car, etc. I didn’t care what happened to Iraq after we got Saddam. I never wanted our soldiers to have to go there, but I support them and have done so ever since we were there. And since we WERE there, I thought Bush’s plan to try to get them to help themselves and become an established foothold of a constitutional democracy was a good idea.

But, if we can pull out without any more GI’s getting hurt or worse, I welcome the locals to destroy themselves. Really. I care not what they do. Nor Iran, nor Egypt, for that matter.

My attitude now is the same as it was in the 60′s: While they’re busy eating dirt, I’m enjoying my ready-drink mix and running water. Going to the movies and so on. If they do a dastardly act here, I send F-15E’s over to their capital, turn it into rubble and leave.

Had a neighbor who used to like to back over my mailbox…and it’s an interesting analogy. First time I did nothing. Second time, I talked to him about it and he basically blew me off. Third time, I took his mailbox out by the post, hacked it into little pieces, and threw it on his driveway. He never did it again. Took him awhile to explain to his wife, no doubt and…probably to come up with the cash to get a new mailbox and post.

I had a sledgehammer at the ready if he built a brick one.

But my point is, we needn’t have gone there to impress upon that Sa-DAMN guy. It was fun and we decimated his living space. But, I never felt it was our job to repair anything. Let it rot. Reagan got Hussein seated in power and the little squid went rogue on us. Should’ve taught us a lesson about trying to get involved with such things.

The over-under on the fall of the government in Iraq is 2 months.