"Iraq is dying" Minnesotan, Iraqi professor, heads to his homeland.

[LuckyLib]

<snip> One of Minnesota's most prominent Iraqi expatriates and outspoken war critics, Abbas Mehdi, is returning to his homeland today to help stabilize the violence-wracked country. "Iraq is dying right now, slowly, and we have to stop the death process," Mehdi said Tuesday. "This is not an easy decision. It could cost me my life. It could cost me a lot of things. But my country needs help."

<snip> Mehdi, 56, has taken a leave of absence from St. Cloud State University, where he is a sociology professor, to work as a strategy and policy adviser to the Iraqi government. In his new role, he will be working to remedy problems he long predicted could erupt in his homeland.

<snip> Mehdi applauded Saddam's downfall but he opposed the invasion, warning that the Iraqi people had been too weakened and divided to withstand the strain of war and the protracted economic and political disruptions that would follow.
<snip> "This is not a question of whether the United States is going to crush Saddam," he said just before the March 2003 invasion. "The question is, 'At what price?' ... I do not believe the American people have the stomach for what could happen."

HOw right he was. Clearly here's one of the many knowledgeable experts that could have advised the * government, but of course, it wasn't interested.

http://www.startribune.com/722/story/657696.html

[tanyev]

1. Be careful, sir.

[annabanana]

2. Giving the blowhards a lesson

on being an honorable man.