The enemy within

The invasion was a success. The war has been won. The few outside agitators & the Iraqi insurgents are losing every skirmish. The people of Iraq are in no hurry for us to leave. And still, a year later we still have this argument.
 
And Eric... so the sanctions were working, according to squiggy. How did he say they were working?
Click to expand...




He did not say how that I remember. just that they were.



Gato: I dont know how long. I guess however long it would take for him to get out of power by the people or step down. Problem there I will be the first to admit is when does that happen?
 
The only way Saddam was going to be removed from power was:

1. He was killed, either by assassination or by an accident.

2. Direct military force.

Sanctions on Iraq did nothing to loosen Saddam's grip over the Iraqi people. Sanctions really only work if the ruler has the best interests of his nation in mind. We have been sactioning North Korea for the last 14 years. Its people are starving and its military is huge. Kim Jong Il is as defiant as any north korean leader has ever been.

It was having the same effect on Iraq. Public services in Iraq really went to pot in the 90s. The living conditions of the people deteriorated during that same time interval. Meanwhile, Saddam built close to 100 new palaces...

Yep...those sanctions were really effective.

Should we have just waited longer? Perhaps another decade or two? What we really would be waiting for, is not for our sanctions to finally have their full effect and for the leader to be pressured to step down from power, but rather for a different totally unrelated event to happen (like a coup, or an assassination, or a heart failure, or for some nation to grow the balls to actually do something.)
 
freako104 said:
He did not say how that I remember. just that they were.
Click to expand...
If Gonz were to directly quote, say, Rush Limbaugh and use it as though it were fact to base analysis off of, you'd probably think it was a pretty silly thing for him to do.
 
more than likely yes since I am not a fan of Rush. Squiggs I agree with most of the time. Hed have to say how they were working. should I look for teh thread?
 
You missed the point. Rush analyzes news and presents opinions.Similarly, Squiggy presented an opinion, and you based your position on his opinion, not on facts.
 
chcr said:
As for a workable plan, the UN was working within the framework of such a plan, but "we're the Americans, we can't wait." When you (and several others) say it wasn't working, IMO what you're really saying is it wasn't working fast enough to suit you.
Click to expand...

:rofl4:

Sorry, but that was funny...

The Uninterested Nations has never been able to do anything without the US, and never will. It was, is, and always will be a laughing stock until they get enough backbone to make a hard decision. Saddam Hussein used the UN to maintain his hold on the Iraqi people for 12 years...He used defiance and capitulation at least 14 times, and he stole money that was supposed to be used to take care of his population for his own personal gain, and the UN did...precisely nothing. It's been the US, and the UK, who forced the issue with Saddam each time he was defiant, while the rest of the UN wrote some more papers on how to deal with him. What were they waiting for, exactly? Perhaps for Saddam to die of suffocation while they buried him under a pile of papers with no punishment for his bad behavior? The UN had 14 YEARS to make a workable plan, and failed. Miserably. How can you justify that?
 
chcr said:
Sorry, Gato (and whoever else), but we're simply going to disagree about this one. I just don't think it was justified. What I think should have happened is that we should have gone after al-qaida and left Saddam for later. The main point to me is that we ignored the real enemy for the administrations personal vendetta.
Click to expand...

Yep. We disagree. I'm out of this thread before any potential to turn really nasty comes to fruition.
 
Sure there were.. like, when Enzo said, "I think I'll make cars". :) Or when Jessica Alba said, "I think I'll wear tight clothes." :cool:
 
a13antichrist said:
Sure there were.. like, when Enzo said, "I think I'll make cars". :)
Click to expand...

Point taken. Who cares about Jessica, but Enzo sure knew what he was talking about, huh? :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top