jakeatolla said:
"Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography."
--Paul Rodriguez
Gosh, it certainly seems that way, doesn't it?!!
I knew almost nothing about the Middle East and Iraq until I was about eleven years old, when the first Gulf War started! I STILL don't know quite that much about that region of the world! In fact, about all I really know and understand about the history of that region, and its problems, is that many of the geographical boundaries of those countries were drawn up without regard for ethnic and religous divisions and tensions. That led to many of the various tensions, hatreds, and wars that have followed in the years since those countries 'gained' their independence or; after revolutions and coups got rid of their former ways of governance.
I also now know the names of many places there, that I'd never even heard of before: Kandahar, Kirkuk, Fallujah, Kabul, Tikrit! I never fully understood why - during the break in direct military action in Iraq - there were the Northern and Southern No-Fly Zones in Iraq. Even now, I only guess that it was to protect the Kurds in the north, and the dissidents in the south of Iraq.
We never seem to really get much information about why things are happening. Rather, we always seem to get information about what's "good" about the war in Iraq and other places! Complete idiocy, in my opinion! We know there are many good things happening in Iraq, but the more important thing (to me) is knowing WHY we are there in the first place!
I see no need for wars unless a country is directly attacked first. I can see the need (sometimes!) for "pre-emptive" strikes to save lives in the future and to avoid bigger threats down the road. However, I don't trust ANY of the current people in charge of deciding when those might be appropriate!