Hi Hawkmoon; Re: "How do you think the Iraqi people are taking that? Do you think they're so stupid that they don't realize the French only cared so long as Saddam was promising them Billions for Iraqi oil?"
That the Iraqis trust Chirac over Bush has been shown by polling, as has been posted before on this thread:
The poll found that 29 percent of Baghdad residents had a favorable view of the United States, while 44 percent had a negative view. By comparison, 55 percent had a favorable view of France. Similarly, half of Baghdad residents had a negative view of President George W. Bush, while 29 percent had a favorable view of him. French President Jacques Chirac drew a 42 percent favorable rating.
...
zogby.com
In the light of this fact, let's take a more careful look at what you're saying: "Do you think they're so stupid that they don't realize the French only cared so long as Saddam was promising them Billions for Iraqi oil?"
No, I don't think the Iraqis are stupid. My opinion is that the Iraqis do not trust the United States because we have repeatedly dealt with them in a dishonest and underhanded fashion. In contrast, the French have treated them well, signing deals that were fair to all concerned. We rode into Iraq and made deals at the point of a gun. France used the more traditional technique of using money to buy oil, LOL.
From an Iraqi point of view, Bush's lies about WMDs in Iraq was dishonest. The Iraqis see Bush's claims to care about the Iraqi people were proven to be more than just an extreme exaggeration when he ordered US troops to only guard Iraq's oil facilities from looting. Before Bush, two other American presidents treated Iraq very roughly, and enforced sanctions after Iraq had, as is now beginning to be admitted, destroyed their WMDs. The Iraqis also see the US as meddling in Iraqi domestic affairs in that we are trying to set up an Iraqi government that wuvs us. And finally, the Iraqis almost universally see us as an ally of Israel, a country that they (according to polling) feel was the only justifiable cross-border attack that Saddam made.
So are the Iraqis stupid? I don't think the average Iraqi is any stupider than most of the posters on this thread, LOL.
Hey, you're welcome to your (sadly wrong) opinions. And the Iraqis are welcome to theirs. But if you ignore Iraqi opinions, and sail on as if the Iraqis wuvved you, you're going to find out that you failed to properly defend your rear.
-- Carl |
