Things Everyone Knew
Two segments on All Things Considered tells us of the considered judgment of two professionals about Iraq before the war.
The first is an interview with Peter Galbraith, the former ambassador to Croatia and an advisor to the Kurds. Mr. Galbraith makes the point that it is obvious that when repressive governments are removed from countries that are collections of disparate national groups, nationalism will kick in and the artificial constructs will break down into their inherently more stable “natural states”. This happened in the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, so it should have been obvious that it was going to happen in Iraq.
In the second, Ex-CIA Agent Robert Baer talks about the new movie Syriana, which draws on his experiences working in the Middle East. [Listen to the interview to understand his involvement with the picture.]
He makes a makes a passing comment on the end of the interview that everyone knew that Iraq would come apart if Saddam was removed.
He implies that the reason that he parted ways with the CIA in 1995 was because he was suspected of being involved in a plot to assassinate Saddam, to the point that the FBI hauled him in for questioning.
[Edit: This was my 1000th Post.]
