Comments on: Is Moqtada al Sadr Irrelevant? http://acepilots.com/mt/2006/10/19/is-moqtada-al-sadr-irrelevant/ Jesus was a community organizer; Pontius Pilate was a governor Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:22:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1.2 By: rbj http://acepilots.com/mt/2006/10/19/is-moqtada-al-sadr-irrelevant/#comment-127316 rbj Thu, 19 Oct 2006 17:53:40 +0000 http://acepilots.com/mt/2006/10/19/is-moqtada-al-sadr-irrelevant/#comment-127316 Saddam held Iraq "together" only through violent, brutal means. What was going to happen if he stayed in power the rest of his life. I can't imagine Uday or Qusay cheerfully giving up power to the other one, so there may have been a nice little shootout amongst the brothers' militias; one in which an outsider would have used to take power himself. And then outside groups such as Sadar would have joined the fray, to take power for themselves. Alternatively, one brother might have killed the other ahead of time (and possibly dispatch dear old dad as well), but then the same general might have attempted a coup as well. All this potential chaos might then result in the ethnic/tribal/religious strife that we're seeing now. To me, what's happening in Iraq right now is something that probably would have happened anyway, once Saddam died. Iraq is a Frankenstein's Monster of a country; put together out of disparate pieces that don't belong together (thanks, Britian & France.) Saddam held Iraq “together” only through violent, brutal means. What was going to happen if he stayed in power the rest of his life. I can’t imagine Uday or Qusay cheerfully giving up power to the other one, so there may have been a nice little shootout amongst the brothers’ militias; one in which an outsider would have used to take power himself. And then outside groups such as Sadar would have joined the fray, to take power for themselves. Alternatively, one brother might have killed the other ahead of time (and possibly dispatch dear old dad as well), but then the same general might have attempted a coup as well.

All this potential chaos might then result in the ethnic/tribal/religious strife that we’re seeing now. To me, what’s happening in Iraq right now is something that probably would have happened anyway, once Saddam died. Iraq is a Frankenstein’s Monster of a country; put together out of disparate pieces that don’t belong together (thanks, Britian & France.)

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