On an international level, he was rendered by the no-fly policy, for lack of a better word, impotent. His reprehensible attacks on his own citizens notwithstanding.turk wrote:Not that I am aware of. Please tell how it "Uh, it did work".
Wrong, wrong, wrong.ruckman101 wrote:Your understanding of the situation is deeply flawed turk. The bulk of Saddam's butchering and slaughtering of his citizens occurred before the NFZ was put in place and with full support from our government. After the NFZ was put in place, both the Kurds and Marsh Arabs rebelled with our government's encouragement, but then our government stepped back and left them to be killed by Saddam. From there it was the normal day to day business for Saddam, still brutal, but no more massacres as there had been in the past. So the NFZs were effective, even to an extent for the Iraqi populace.
http://civilliberty.about.com/od/intern ... ussein.htm
".... But what this rhetoric does not reflect is that, until 1991, Saddam Hussein was allowed to commit his atrocities with the full support of the U.S. government. The specifics of the al-Anfal Campaign were no mystery to the Reagan administration, but the decision was made to support the genocidal Iraqi government over the pro-Soviet theocracy of Iran, even to the point of making ourselves complicit in crimes against humanity.
....
Saddam Hussein was unquestionably one of the most brutal dictators of the 20th century. History cannot even begin to record the full scale of his atrocities and the effect they had on those affected and the families of those affected. But his most horrific acts, including the al-Anfal genocide, were committed in full view of our government--the government that we present to the world as a shining beacon of human rights.
Make no mistake: The ouster of Saddam Hussein was a victory for human rights, and if there is any silver lining to come from the brutal Iraq War, it is that Hussein is no longer slaughtering and torturing his own people. But we should fully recognize that every indictment, every epithet, every moral condemnation we issue against Saddam Hussein also indicts us. We should all be ashamed of the atrocities that were committed under our leaders' noses, and with our leaders' blessing."
Rah rah, wave that flag.
neal
Aw fuck.ruckman101 wrote: We are the largest "rogue" nation on the planet.
You've summed up the problem nicely. Freedom isn't "deserved". It's a human right. The US isn't some big daddy, doling out freedom to the deserving, like some reward, although that seems to be the tact, dangling freedom like a carrot on a stick. If a country has resources our government or corporations want, our powerful military comes in bearing freedom, as long as it's the right kind, otherwise, death rains down.hippiewannabe wrote:Aw fuck.ruckman101 wrote: We are the largest "rogue" nation on the planet.
Freedom is not the natural state of man. It is a recent and rare phenomenon, won and preserved only at great cost.
Everyone who enjoys freedom today owes it to the United States of America and her powerful military.
You don't deserve it, but we'll let let you ride in the freedom, free speech bus.
When you are "disappeared", I'll know it's time to worry.
ruckman101 wrote:You've summed up the problem nicely. Freedom isn't "deserved". It's a human right. The US isn't some big daddy, doling out freedom to the deserving, like some reward, although that seems to be the tact, dangling freedom like a carrot on a stick. If a country has resources our government or corporations want, our powerful military comes in bearing freedom, as long as it's the right kind, otherwise, death rains down.hippiewannabe wrote:Aw fuck.ruckman101 wrote: We are the largest "rogue" nation on the planet.
Freedom is not the natural state of man. It is a recent and rare phenomenon, won and preserved only at great cost.
Everyone who enjoys freedom today owes it to the United States of America and her powerful military.
You don't deserve it, but we'll let let you ride in the freedom, free speech bus.
When you are "disappeared", I'll know it's time to worry.
Right now our government is scrambling frantically to ensure the "right" free democracy lands in the places of power in the middle east.
It isn't your place to tell me what I deserve. Take off those "patriot" glasses, they're blurring your sight. And if I "disappeared", I doubt you would worry, after all, I probably "deserved" it.