sane time sane place

No rational person would ever dispute the fact that Saddam Hussein was an evil Stalinesque tyrant. He was much like Stalin in that he mistrusted anyone he perceived as a threat to his power. What most Americans neglect to consider is what life was like in Iraq for its citizens who did not run afoul of the government. Iraq was a secular, albeit Muslim, nation which was as "western" and modern as any Middle Eastern nation. Perhaps there was never enough footage of pre-war Baghdad shown in America. The scenes from that capitol now are shocking. It will not matter what form the new Iraq will take. The reversal of secularism is guaranteed. The Bush administration boasts of the improvements. Women can vote. They cannot drive to the polling places, and they had better be wearing proper Muslim garb when in public. I have thought that the nation would be best served if it could coalesce a "national" government whose responsibilities would be limited to providing an army, and to oversee the equitable sharing of the oil revenues. The country should divide into autonomous regions. This could reduce the level of sectarian violence, but has its own dangers. The Kurds would likely want to annex sections of Turkey in forming their autonomous zone, thus creating a tense and possibly violent situation. The Kurds would also fight to control Kirkuk, and the Sunnis would oppose that. However the situation in Iraq plays out, it will never be a "little America" with representative democracy and personal freedom. Come to think of it, we don't have those things here in the United States anymore.