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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>My thanks to Joan Opyr for some of the most stirring prose
I have ever read about this war. Specifically her last paragraph from her
posting of Wed (below). Her words have really enlivened this
list.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>BL</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV>It's easy to argue that we can't afford to lose Iraq. It's
also easy to see that we can't afford to keep it. That's our conundrum,
isn't it? We've broken it, but we can't afford to buy it, and so we're
not allowed to leave the store. Here's my tragic prediction, ready to be
printed out and time-capsuled for your reading pleasure in the year 2034:
Iraq will be run by an oppressive Shiite militia. We'll do
business with them because we need their oil; they'll do business with us
because they need our money. There will be no democracy in Baghdad,
but there will be a new memorial wall in Washington, DC, and on it will be the
names of thousands of US soldiers, missed by their families, mourned by their
children, and forgotten by their government.</DIV>
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