Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Posted here Tuesday, May 25, 2004 at 9:12:15 AM     In today's issue New republic on line http://www.tnr.com/blog/iraqd a very good article on the near impossibility of disarming the militias. As I've argued before, Saddam was a response to the conditions in Iraq, of intense inter group warfare. The current conditions are of course the same, and the rise of a new strong man fascist is likely. Recall that the older generation of leaders in much of the middle east were influenced by  Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, in organized political groups. ********

Posted here Tuesday, May 25, 2004 at 9:03:34 AM     www.billmon.org has been closed. I've no idea what is happening. He has been one of the very best commentator/analysts of the current scene. He was in the ME for a conference and came back burned out. www.talkingpointsmemo.com has No analogies are perfect, certainly. But if there is anything from the late eighteenth century comparable to the current situation in Iraq it is not the American Revolution but the French Revolution, with legitimacy and the sinews of society in a losing battle with a widening gyre of violence. ********