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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zonder who wrote (2599)	1/22/2003 1:46:11 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Respond to of 15987

If all this "inflamed the region", can you tell me why nobody (except Israel) is willing to support the US in its imminent invasion of Iraq? BECAUSE the region is inflamed, zonder, the neighboring rulers do not feel too secure on their own thrones. They are a) afraid of the destabilizing effects of a war, and b) afraid that we will leave Saddam unfinished and decamp like we did last time, leaving them to pick up the pieces, or that c) we will succeed in establishing a more democratic federal Iraq and it will give their own citizens ideas. >>7) claiming the Gulf War was a great victory and he is a second Saladin who will reunite the Arabs This is "inflaming the region"??? He looked stupid saying that, that's all. To us in the West he looked stupid. But Saddam plays to an Arab audience, one he knows well. The Arabs are very attached to the idea of a great Arab warrior who will unite the Arabs and triumph over the infidels. As for killing and otherwise mistreating his own people: While despicable, I don't see how such acts of a dictator on his own people is "inflaming the region". It is when he puts parades of dead babies on TV, and says, America killed them, it's America's fault! Everything is America's fault! and of course, the Zionist conspiracy. You may have noticed that the region is full of dangerously unemployed young men whose attentions must be turned at all costs away from the idea of overthrowing their own regimes? By the way, I have a question: Days go by and I don't hear from you, and then one day, CB comes back and within minutes, you grace me with your presence. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. I like talking to you. Just that I find it a bit curious. No big explanation. You just said something to which I had a response.

To: zonder who wrote (2599)	1/22/2003 2:56:27 PM
From: E. T.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15987

"can you tell me why nobody (except Israel) is willing to support the US in its imminent invasion of Iraq?" European leaders are a bunch of scaredy cats, that's why, and don't have the backbone to make the tough call to take down a cruel dictator when the chance arises. Hey, what about this idea, Gadaffi got his UN chair as part of a deal to take Saddam into exile. If Saddam goes into exile, all of Bush's tough talking will have been worth it, don't you agree.

To: zonder who wrote (2599)	1/22/2003 10:31:16 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 15987

If all this "inflamed the region", can you tell me why nobody (except Israel) is willing to support the US in its imminent invasion of Iraq? I recall something VERY similar when the US led the FIRST confrontation with Saddam AFTER he had invaded Kuwait and occupied it.. Country after country was against it.. Heck, even the US congress was divided throughout the congressional approval process, with many democrats opposing that war for the very same reasons they claim to be opposing this one... But you sure saw everyone scramble to hop on for the victory parade after the US/UK did most of the heavy lifting.. (and really it was the US who engaged in most of the combat). Please quit ignoring the fact that MANY nations have an interest in PREVENTING the US from overthrowing Saddam.. France, Russia, and the Dutch all have an obvious rational for opposing it.. The non-democratic Arab states oppose it because the US is threatening to introduce democratic reforms to the region and undermine their own authority.. The Europeans (aside from the UK) because they are incapable of doing anything but engage in rhetorical diplomacy and US military action highlights this in a glaring fashion. The Asians? Well, aside from N. Korea, they are keeping pretty quiet since they know that cheap oil will likely follow Saddam's overthrow, and they need that even more than we do... What I really want to know is why we haven't seen rallies against the French, Russians, and Dutch for supporting Saddam's despotic regime and profiting from his oil industry. We know that would become a constant issue were the US supporting Saddam... But I guess those countries just "do what they always have done", right?? Hawk