Nation building

Nation building Nation building is a nebulous term, at best, and a code word for foreign domination, at worst. In the two cases in which the US has engaged in such activity in our region the results have so far been fairly disastrous.
Iraq, of course, was not supposed to be an exercise in nation-building but a liberation that would flower into some idealistic democracy with a multi-cultural constituency that would somehow come together as a united electorate. The attacks by two suicide bombers on Sunday shows that clearly not everyone is on the same page. Just as plans for US withdrawal are truly on track, the explosions are clearly from some quarter that sees an advantage to keeping the US mired in Iraq.
With such aggression still commanding the scene in Iraq, the US would find it extremely difficult to withdraw and leave the country in the hands of a government and military that have shown themselves incapable of controlling the country and keeping it peaceful. It would also throw into jeopardy plans to increase the number of US troops in Afghanistan, an absolute necessity, according to most military analysts, if there is any hope to defeat the Taleban and their Al-Qaeda allies.
Suspicion for the blasts fall mainly on insurgents in Iraq and there may be some reason to suspect that Al-Qaeda might well have some hand in them. The US is still struggling to maintain a war footing on two fronts: in Iraq and in Afghanistan. The Taleban have threatened mayhem against anyone who goes to the polls in the presidential run-off coming up in November and keeping the US and its allies off-balance at the moment may be more important than any final blow.
Whatever the truth behind the blasts, the current situation should put to rest any notion of nation building on the part of third countries for the foreseeable future. Such imperialism has seen its day and the 21st century is no time to be reintroducing it.