CB wrote:
If Iraqis are so much at each others' throats in disagreement, how can what Christian Parenti said be some kind of consensus of what Iraqis want ?
Answer: because most of the mayhem is not over "disagreements" per se. It's about a near-complete breakdown of public order. Gangs of young men with guns are running all over the place shooting up the city, each other, themselves, and any bystanders who are unlucky...and there are not enough soldiers or any forces there to control this. Theft is rampant, and getting blown away trying to stop someone from driving off with your car is not uncommon. People can get really crazy when their cities and towns have had the hell bombed out of them and the infrastructure, which was falling apart to begin with is completely destroyed and there is no power or water and it's 110 degrees and there is no government and, literally, *no* authority that can effectively stop lawlessness. We Americans are not any different: some big NE cities were lucky a few weeks back, for some reason there was very little rioting and looting during the blackout. But there has been before, under the same conditions. Maria
^^^^^ CB: Would u think that there is a consensus among the adult women and men of Iraq that adult Iraqis should be armed and permitted to put down the gangs of young men ? Or do they want the UN to put the young men down ? Did Parenti address the gangs of young men ?
^^^^^^
Another thing, in every human culture I know of, if someone's gonna tear = the place down, loot, and be violent and destructive in general, it's = always the young men. My psych professor said many years ago, = "Anytime you bring young men together in a group with no other members = of society involved, eventually there will be violence." By that he = meant everything from the gangs roaming Baghdad now to a typical = American frat house.