The debate is over: By any definition, Iraq is in a state of civil war. Indeed, the only thing standing between Iraq and a descent into total Bosnia-like devastation is 135,000 U.S. troops -- and even they are merely slowing the fall. The internecine conflict could easily spiral into one that threatens not only Iraq but also its neighbors throughout the oil-rich Persian Gulf region with instability, turmoil and war.
So begins an article in the Sunday Washington Post. The authors argue that the situation can't be allowed to sink further into secular violence, because of the inherent spillover civil wars foster in surrounding regions.
Civil wars -- whether in Africa, Asia, Europe or the Middle East -- tend to spread across borders. For example, the effects of the Jewish-Palestinian conflict, which began in the 1920s and continued even after formal hostilities ended in 1948, contributed to the 1956 and 1967 Arab-Israeli wars, provoked a civil war in Jordan in 1970-71 and then triggered the Lebanese civil war of 1975-90. In turn, the Lebanese conflict helped spark civil war in Syria in 1976-82.
They go on to cite Rwanda, Yugoslavia, and other horrors of the past 15 years as evidence. It's a sobering and discouraging thing to read. Their solution? Get ready for it now, because if it happens it will be far worse than those conflicts mentioned above.
Posted by Linkmeister at August 20, 2006 04:55 PM | TrackBackThis is the problem with having rapture righties in power. They want the middle-east, eastern Europe and west Asia to sink into several civil wars. I am increasingly convinced that bush is trying desperately to be the impetuous to fullfiling biblical end times prophecies. When one considers his phsychology and conversion to christianity - it really makes sense.
Posted by: DuWayne at August 21, 2006 06:31 AM