[PEN-L:36316] Re: Re: The Stalingrad thesis.

[Peter Dorman <dormanp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I hate to say this -- it's really pretty ugly -- but the reason Baghdad
will not be Stalingrad is fairly simple.  The US has the power to
destroy as much of the city and its inhabitants as it wants.  There is
no military impediment to this, only the political cost of such
slaughter.  It comes down to a very cold calculation: how many civilian
deaths and visible leveling of the city can they get away with?  My
guess is that, if Iraqi resistance is stiff, they will aim at the upper
end of what they perceive to be the politically feasible range.  It
sickens me to imagine what this could mean.

Peter

Michael Perelman wrote:

> I don't think were talking about Stalingrad here.  I suspect it will be
> more like Jenin, but this means that the US would have a hard time
> installing a new Karzai.
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx