Thinking About Iraq

If you have eyes and ears, it is hard to not think about Iraq. Here are some thoughts I have had over the past couple days...

• Yes, it is sad that 32 people died at Virginia Tech. But on a scale of relative "badness" what is worse? the isolated killing of 32 people in Virginia? or the daily death of at least 32 civilians in Iraq? I hesitate to apply a scale of moral relativity. However, if you look at the way the news was apportioned between Iraq and Virgina Tech over the past week, it would appear the press has. 32 American lives are worth more than 224 Iraqi lives.
  
• When will we learn pick and choose the strongmen we choose to topple. History has taught us bad things happen when heterogeneous populations lose their dictators. Half a million people died during the partition when the British Raj left India. We all know what happened when Tito was toppled in Yugoslavia. The trials are still running at the Hague. Thirty years after the departure of Belgians, Rwanda erupted in violence and genocide not seen since the 1940s. While the distrust and bad blood is rarely evident at the surface, it is always there. How we missed it is beyond me!


• Why is the world so unwilling to split Iraq up into three different countries? It's what happened with Yugoslavia, despite potential concerns of the Albanians and Greeks. So the Turks don't want Kurdistan, but they'll get over it. It's not like they are doing anything to help now. Can't we just be done with this?