Okay, need to borrow the soapbox for one sec.

Posted by Operator Jake from cas01.mtsano01.ga.comcast.net (68.47.0.7) on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 at 8:54pm :

In Reply to: Re: America has declared War on the Hussein boys! posted by Brett Maverick Lambert from edtntnt9-port-18.dial.telus.net (161.184.200.18) on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 at 7:43pm :

Brett, I'm only sharing this with you since you've impressed me in the past as a guy who is willing to listen to another side on this sort of thing.

The US had definately made it's mistakes in dealing with the matter of Hussein in the past, but please don't be lead into believing that this nation put him into power.

To make a long, bloody story short, Hussein returned from hiding in Egypt thirty years ago after learning that the Ba'ath party he was involved with had taken power in his home country. Upon his return, he went from being a bastard to being THE bastard in 1979. Tears in his eyes, he had forty-some (that number sticks in my head) members of the Iraqi political party escorted outside and shot so that he could get a good night's sleep (not to mention at least 48 at last count members of his own family for the same reason).

Here's the part where hindsight is 20/20.

Hussein's greatest claim to fame back in the day was that he managed to get his country into the longest war of the 20th century, the 1980-1988 Iran/Iraq conflict. It went on so long mostly due to the fact that Hussein made himself al-Mushir, the head of the military forces (as a boy, he always wanted to be an army officer, but was never quite good enough for the academy), and skipped all those boring ranks before it. As such, he was never a soldier and had no idea how to effectively lead his forces.

This was one long stalemate, and at the time, the US was more afraid of Iran, and when it looked as though Iraq might have been overrun, well--then the US was willing to talk things over.

The vast majority of Hussein's arsenal was/is former Soviet Union backed, NOT American.

As far as comparing Hussein and Hitler, a better comparison would be Hussein and Josef Stalin, the Butcher of Baghdad's personal hero. Hussein has scores of books on the man, and has been taking his success stories to heart.

Getting back to point one, the US didn't put this guy in power, but admittedly, he's been tolerated for longer than he should have been. This is all a political matter, things that I don't understand nor am I willing to pretend to. As simple as I can make it, if Hussein were to be taken out (by whip-wielding gung-ho Fedora wearers or otherwise), Iran, a nation who still doesn't like us, would cease to be a big problem and become a HUGE problem. The bad blood still exists between the Arabs and Persians, and the fear is that in the confusion, we'd have a new front to deal with coming from the west.

On the other side of this point, and I'm just guessing on this one but it seems logical; with Hussein, at least we had a monster that we knew. If you hadn't heard before, his boys; in particular Uday ("You Die"--nice, eh?) are even worse than their old man. Succession in Iraq might truly take a turn for the worse if one of them takes over.

Okay, soapbox away for now.

At any rate, Brett, I have to agree with your sentiment. Let's just hope that this thing gets over with soon, and that needless harm to the folks who didn't ask to be in the way of it all are kept to a minimum.

Sooooo, how 'bout that Indiana Jones fella?

Follow Ups:

Very well put!! I couldn't agree more!! - Man With Cool Hat 10:33pm 03/18/2003

They like to kiss ass! - Steppenwolf 0:25am 03/19/2003

A thousand pardons Excelency!!..... - 3thoubucks 1:41am 03/19/2003

Don't worry! - Steppenwolf 2:27am 03/19/2003

Or compare him to Vlad the Impaler from The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles episode - Darth Indy 9:00pm 03/18/2003

Never saw it--heard it was awful. - Operator Jake 9:13pm 03/18/2003

Your right it was awful. Sorta like if they made an "Indy Meets Frankenstein&qu - Darth Indy 9:19pm 03/18/2003

Sorry didnt know why the &qu came up on that n/m - Darth Indy 9:21pm 03/18/2003

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: Brett, I'm only sharing this with you since you've impressed me in the past as a guy who is willing to listen to another side on this sort of thing. : The US had definately made it's mistakes in dealing with the matter of Hussein in the past, but please don't be lead into believing that this nation put him into power. : To make a long, bloody story short, Hussein returned from hiding in Egypt thirty years ago after learning that the Ba'ath party he was involved with had taken power in his home country. Upon his return, he went from being a bastard to being THE bastard in 1979. Tears in his eyes, he had forty-some (that number sticks in my head) members of the Iraqi political party escorted outside and shot so that he could get a good night's sleep (not to mention at least 48 at last count members of his own family for the same reason). : Here's the part where hindsight is 20/20. : Hussein's greatest claim to fame back in the day was that he managed to get his country into the longest war of the 20th century, the 1980-1988 Iran/Iraq conflict. It went on so long mostly due to the fact that Hussein made himself al-Mushir, the head of the military forces (as a boy, he always wanted to be an army officer, but was never quite good enough for the academy), and skipped all those boring ranks before it. As such, he was never a soldier and had no idea how to effectively lead his forces. : This was one long stalemate, and at the time, the US was more afraid of Iran, and when it looked as though Iraq might have been overrun, well--then the US was willing to talk things over. : The vast majority of Hussein's arsenal was/is former Soviet Union backed, NOT American. : As far as comparing Hussein and Hitler, a better comparison would be Hussein and Josef Stalin, the Butcher of Baghdad's personal hero. Hussein has scores of books on the man, and has been taking his success stories to heart. : Getting back to point one, the US didn't put this guy in power, but admittedly, he's been tolerated for longer than he should have been. This is all a political matter, things that I don't understand nor am I willing to pretend to. As simple as I can make it, if Hussein were to be taken out (by whip-wielding gung-ho Fedora wearers or otherwise), Iran, a nation who still doesn't like us, would cease to be a big problem and become a HUGE problem. The bad blood still exists between the Arabs and Persians, and the fear is that in the confusion, we'd have a new front to deal with coming from the west. : On the other side of this point, and I'm just guessing on this one but it seems logical; with Hussein, at least we had a monster that we knew. If you hadn't heard before, his boys; in particular Uday ("You Die"--nice, eh?) are even worse than their old man. Succession in Iraq might truly take a turn for the worse if one of them takes over. : Okay, soapbox away for now. : At any rate, Brett, I have to agree with your sentiment. Let's just hope that this thing gets over with soon, and that needless harm to the folks who didn't ask to be in the way of it all are kept to a minimum. : Sooooo, how 'bout that Indiana Jones fella?

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