CIVIL WARS NEED 3RD PARTY INTERVENTION

An Editorial from my father

CIVIL WARS NEED 3RD PARTY INTERVENTION

Remember the war between the Tutsies & Hutus in Africa? Some "Concerned" people and organizations were bellyaching because we/NATO/UN did not intervene to stop the bloodshed. These same people/organizations are now pushing for intervention in the Darfur region of Sudan. These same people/organizations, while admitting that there is a civil/ethnic/sectarian war in Iraq, are demanding that our troops LEAVE Iraq.

During the civil war in Lebanon some sensible Lebanese found it necessary to invite Syrian troops to intervene and stop the bloodshed. The Syrians did and the bloodshed stopped. The Syrians, however, stayed beyond their mission, but that's another story. We had to intervene in the former Yugoslavia in order to stop the civil/ethnic war and are still there. UN troops are still in Haiti and other countries.

Let us not forget that the "Armed" forces of these countries are PART of the problem. After all, these forces are made up of the same factions that are in conflict. One should not expect a certain faction to fight their ethnic brothers. Usually they line up with their bretheren and join the fight just like they did in Lebanon and other places facing the same situation. During the American civil war the armed forces split along North South line. We learn everyday that some Iraqi Police and maybe even Army elements commit ethnic cleansing or vengeance.

The obvious solution is to invite a 3rd party such as US/UN/NATO or a neutral regional force willing to intervene in order to stop the fighting. There is no other way.

Michael Saleeby
Melbourne, Florida
11-15-06