> >The Martial Plan
> >By PAUL KRUGMAN
...
>
> The US always has been and continues to be the single largest donor of aid
> to Afghanistan.
So? This doesn't necessarily mean that the US is giving
much money, just that others give less.
> The allegation regarding permitting Turkish occuption of Northern Iraq is
> pure rumour and innuendo. For one thing, the Turks already have a
> presence in Northern Iraq. For two, many published reports in places
> like the Washington Post completely contradict that assertion.
Of course it's "rumour and innuendo"! What do you want him
to produce, copies of secret agreements? The Turks certainly do not
want an independent Kurdish state, do they? I imagine that Bush would
be prepared to let the Turks occupy Northern Iraq, but that a slightly
more diplomatic method of oppressing the Kurds will be substituted.
For the sake of argument, suppose that an "independent" Kurdish state
is set up, with a puppet government friendly to Turkish interests.
Does this count as "occupation"?
> According to the Washington Post, the US plans to install Americans to at
> least the Top Three levels of governance and conduct war crimes trials of
> top Iraqi officials. The US will then convene a representative council
> of all Iraqis to develop a replacement government. The allegations
> presented by Krugman are mind-numbingly passed on without considering the
> source - a group of people who want to run Iraq after the war - and are
> again, pure rumour and innuendo.
>
...
> JDG
Again, they strike me as reasonable predictions, given past
Bush administration foreign policy. Dismissing them as unsubstantiated
is a lazy argument--how are they supposed to be substantiated? If
we do have the war that Bush wants, then we might get to find out
if Krugman is right. But with luck, we still might avoid it...
---David
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