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Thoughts for the day

By anonimouse (Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 04:40:29 AM EST) (all tags)

A diary with some cynisism, sarcasm, and updates during the day (or maybe not)

Dead people today poll

Smaller bombs - just for the Afghans.

So that's alright then.

IIRC, your standard laser guided munition is 2000lbs - probably enough to level the block, let alone the house. Maybe they'll have a "Personal Edition" with only 500lbs.

I'm not sure I can reconcile this:
World owes US a debt, says Brown
with this:
Third of Iraqis 'need urgent aid'

I'm beginning to think that maybe they should go resurrect Saddam - he seems to have struck a reasonable balance in killing the minimum number of people to keep Iraq safe for the rest.

< Watching the summer slip by | BBC White season: 'Rivers of Blood' >

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Thoughts for the day | 14 comments (14 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

Dunno by jump the ladder (2.00 / 0) #1 Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 05:45:53 AM EST

I sort of agree about Saddam who didn't do it for the sake of the peopple but to keep power but did manage to keep a fractured and sectarian society in a semblance of internal peace at a very high cost but he was too much of a loose cannon for the yanks to tolerate. They don't mind dictators but ones that keep their noses relatively clean in the international arena.

Yugoslavia by Herring (2.00 / 0) #7 Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 07:16:46 AM EST

It's not like anyone could've forseen the bloody breakup of Iraq following the removal of a strong leader who was keeping it together by force. It's not like anything like that had ever happened before.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge - Charles Darwin
[ Parent ]

: If only the Iraqi listened to Frank Zappa and by jump the ladder (2.00 / 0) #9 Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 08:08:11 AM EST

Velvet Underground. The break up of Czechslovakia was peaceful but it helps if your President is an old hippy.

[ Parent ]

Was he? by ShadowNode (2.00 / 0) #14 Tue Jul 31, 2007 at 01:18:44 AM EST

He had a bit of a spat with the Iranians, but I'm not sure who started that. He sought American approval for the adventure in Kuwait and it was granted, so they have no real cause for complaint there.

I think it's more plausible that he was ousted over the threat to sell oil on the Euro.

[ Parent ]

Unless you're a Kurd by Phage (2.00 / 0) #2 Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 06:25:12 AM EST

Bad times for Kurds under Saddam.

The Czar of Accounting. No Nit Too Small To Pick

Yes by anonimouse (2.00 / 0) #3 Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 06:48:03 AM EST

But taking Iraq as a whole, I suspect the death rate to have been substantially lower in any period of Sadaams rule than at any period over the last few years.

He screwed up when he was encouraged to go on foreign adventures by the US. e.g. Iran and Kuwait. The moral is that you should never start a land grab encouraged by your "friend" unless you have a document with that friends signature on it. Adolph learned that one with Poland and Czechoslavia (and just about everywhere else), but forgot it when he declared war on Russia and the US.

_{None of the above should be taken as trying to say that Sadaam was a great person who you'd love to have as your next door neighbour}

Girls come and go but a mortgage is for 25 years -- JtL
[ Parent ]

Even including them by Vulch (4.00 / 2) #4 Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 06:49:13 AM EST

Back when a respected publication (The Lancet?) gave their estimate of 100K+ having been killed in the first two years the official response was it had only been 20K a year, but it also crept out that under Saddam it was officially estimated that he'd only managed 5K a year and that in most cases it was necessary to be a Kurd or politically active to get on his list. If you kept quiet and got on with your life you were likely to be fine, stray crossfire, bombs in markets and random extortion gangs don't work that way though so the average Iragi is in much greater danger now than in the past.

[ Parent ]

What about the Iran-Iraq war? by jump the ladder (2.00 / 0) #6 Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 07:11:22 AM EST

Conscripts are civilians forced into the army mostly. I would say the deathrate must have been huge in the 80s as it was WW1 type battle of attrition.

[ Parent ]

: On reflection by Vulch (2.00 / 0) #12 Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 11:38:01 AM EST

It may have excluded military casualties, but I think the Iran-Iraq casualty ratio was heavily tilted towards dead Iranians as their objective was to grab the Shat-al-arab waterways and cut Iraq off from the sea. The Iraqis were defending from fortified positions, the Iranians were clearing minefields by foot.

[ Parent ]

As a ratio to total pop. by Phage (2.00 / 0) #8 Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 07:55:44 AM EST

Perhaps. But as a ratio of the Kurdish population ?

The Czar of Accounting. No Nit Too Small To Pick
[ Parent ]

Not after the first Gulf War by theboz (2.00 / 0) #10 Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 11:17:37 AM EST

However, the U.S. could have easily supported a Kurdish movement for independence if we wanted to be involved in nation building, and we would have actually been successful at that, since right now the Kurds have all but officially split off of Iraq and are successful.
- - - - -
That's what I always say about you, boz, you have a good memory for random facts about pussy. -- joh3n
[ Parent ]

Indeed by Phage (4.00 / 1) #11 Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 11:20:39 AM EST

The Turks arn't too happy about that though.

The Czar of Accounting. No Nit Too Small To Pick
[ Parent ]

: The Turks have a habit of that by theboz (2.00 / 0) #13 Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 11:56:48 AM EST

So take me back to Constantinople
No, you can't go back to Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That's nobody's business but the Turks
- - - - -
That's what I always say about you, boz, you have a good memory for random facts about pussy. -- joh3n
[ Parent ]

What is a great shame by Herring (4.00 / 2) #5 Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 07:09:58 AM EST

is that Mike Reid never got to appear in any of Bergman's films. I think that would've been excellent.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge - Charles Darwin

Thoughts for the day | 14 comments (14 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

-	Mike Reid	37%
-	Ingmar Bergman	62%


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