Saturday, January 03, 2009

Middle Earth

Israeli tanks and troops swept across the border into Gaza on Saturday night, opening a ground war against the militant group Hamas after a week of intense airstrikes.

[...]

“This will not be short. this will not be easy. I do not wish to delude anyone,” Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, said in a televised statement, adding that the coming days will be difficult for the residents of southern Israel.

  NYT

And for the Palestinians?

The United Nations Security Council called a special meeting for 7 p.m. Saturday in New York to discuss the Middle East crisis.

Will it matter?

Former U.S.-installed Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has denounced the policies of President George W. Bush as an "utter failure" that gave rise to the sectarian venom that ravaged his country.

  Reuters

But, but...history!

Maliki's government was characterized by "weak performance, erected upon political quotas, major government corruption and infiltrated state agencies," he said. "Four years passed ... and they can't build the police, army, national institutions."

"Ending Saddam's regime was essential, but replacing the Saddam regime with extreme chaos was not right," he said. "I did not imagine the political process would eat itself from inside or that it would abandon the rule of law and establish political sectarianism."

Maybe I’m just jaded, but had he actually managed to retain the reins, I suspect Allawi would have a more favorable assessment.


....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.


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