E*star* said:
Notice how I said 'in the world' this generally means I am talking about it in that wider context in which it has the third largest supply although with sanctions these days no Australia does not receive much oil from there - we like the SE Asian nations better and so we should. Even so this was not what I was getting at and "does being an oil supplier give you the right to invade a sovereign nation?" - You have confused your terms but I know what you are saying and I didn't say that, you are taking me out of context and posing a rediculous rhetorical question.
Then
what did you mean? And no I didn't mince words.
Yes granted 148 people died but i actually said "falsely imprisoned, tortured and murdered" which in total brings the number to 2k+ so yes thousands
Your use of language didn't make the fact that you were encompassing the thousands in with the "imprisoned, tortured and murdered", rather thousands had been murdered.
Don't really know what to say to that, obviously you are generalising but I take your point that yes the mortality rate in Baghdad has risen since the invasion.
Interesting quote from a recent report on the Iraqi situation 'A handful of foreign fighters (500+)--and a couple thousand Al Qaeda operatives incite open factional struggle through suicide bombings which target Shia holy places and innocent civilians...The police force is feared as a Shia militia in uniform which is responsible for thousands of extra-judicial killings." ' - well aslong as these people didn't feel like some random killings then no you probably wouldn't be killed buying a loaf of bread
There is no cadre of "foreign fighters" in Iraq:
Ned Parker of the LA Times reports that of 19,000 "insurgents" held by the US military in Iraq, only 135 are foreigners.
http://www.juancole.com/2007/07/few-foreign-fighters-in-iraq-many-are.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-saudi15jul15,0,3132262.story?coll=la-home-center
Luckily though the Iraq war has
radicalised most foreign fighters in Iraq
Saudi and Israeli studies show that most foreign fighters were not terrorists before Iraq war.
Not a great deal even though they could have BUT that was like 30 years ago, terrible thing sure but does the fact that the Government at the time were lax in their response to dictators mean that now we should not take action and let it happen again? I mean what argument are you trying to raise here?
That was like, oh my god, like,
30 years ago. 30 years ago America went into Vietnam to crush Communists. 30 years ago America helped install Pinochet to crush Communism in Chile.
Yet they were not eager to either help the Cambodians while Pol-Pot was ruling or bring him to justice. Why didn't America depose Saddam when a) the time was right and b) when the rest of the International forces (including the UN) supported them? That would have been smart.
'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing' - Edmund Burke
Is this the first line of the
Neo-Con Bible: Interventionist policy for dummies?
Yes it is good no Australians have died, if only you could take it a bit more seriously, you do realise that Iraq wasn't peaceful before the invasion don't you?
Guess that makes it tip-top then. Wasn't peaceful before, shouldn't be peaceful after, fuck 'em.
Not to mention the millions of refugees who have fled their homeland to neighbouring states alone:
Baghdad is a glorious paradise thanks to the occupying forces. Praise Allah.
I mean it wasn't like modern day Sydney where maybe a person gets stabbed every now and then but not much else and suddenly it descends into chaos after the invasion - it was a bloody civil war; or nearly was atleast...
Whose fault is this? If I had to lay blame, it would be to the Americans (again) for invading with too few forces which left them unable to lock down the borders or do a number of numerous things which an extra 100 000 to 200 000 troops would have let them do. But they wanted to then it
then in
their time, any other contributions were token - even the British - compared to the US military's combatants which were not enough alone.
How much do you think Saddam Hussein cared about the people?
Probably more than the American troops who
don't really think the Iraqis are people:
'A dead Iraqi is just another dead Iraqi... You know, so what?'
Interviews with US veterans show for the first time the pattern of brutality in Iraq
Completely agree. Once again however different time, different place, different people its not like America is this eternal entity led by the same people and motives throughout history....same with Pol-Pot, its a weak argument to bring up really
You think anti-American sentiment sprung up over night? No it reaches back to those "different times".
Um the international community who don't want people to go around blowing eachother up one group coming to power and then obliterating all its political but mainly religious rivals and gaining control of leverage through the oil supplies?
The "international community" is America. If France had an interest to stop the violence, they would intervene (not that the didn't have an interest for Saddam to stay in place). If Canda... If New Zealand... If Saudi Arabia... If...well who's in Iraq again? Poland? South Korea?
The Washington Post, August 20, 2006. Article titled: 'A Domino Theory for the New Mideast: What Happens When Iraq Runneth Over'
It does appear you've copied and pasted a reference from wikipedia from a source you haven't read which was written close to a year ago.. So, since I cannot be bothered going into factiva and finding the article, care to enlighten us what's in this amazing piece.
I am going to give you the credit of knowing where Kuwait and Lebanon are
Thank you for your delightful ad hominem, you couldn't be an Iraq war defender without one.
but seeing as they are of a similar cultural and ethnic diversity it raises the point that if the Iraq unrest was left to become the inevitable civil war that it would have, it 'could also spill over to the rest of the region'
I'm sure the average Lebanese or Kuwaiti subject are going to be inspired by the violence in Iraq and start their own civil wars. Kuwaiti is very rich and almost Western like and Lebanon, having suffered it's own civil war not that long ago would know the exact same pains Iraq is going through.
The islamist ideology of Hizbollah came directly out of the Iranian revolution's Ayatollah Khomeini (it was also trained and funded by the IRG).
Perhaps you however are seeing the world through some context free method in which America is eternally stricken with the same people and motives and what the media tells you must be regurgitated thoughtlessly without investigation?
You're absolutely right. Seeing the War in Iraq as anything else but a major success against Islamists and dictators, and a massive triumph for the West in the Middle East is absolutely insane.
Absolutely insane.
After all the did find those WMDs, didn't they? I bet the news media has being lying to me
forever.
E-E-E-EPIC POST.