Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PartyTime who wrote (21519)	3/15/2003 11:52:17 PM
From: Vitas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25898

>>>But I think you perhaps make him out to be worse than he actually is.<<< so what is PARTYTIME's definition of the threshold of not as worse? Is it 1 human being murdered? Is it 1 million human beings murdered? 2 million? 3 million? Do I have to highlight the key words of the above for you? or can you figure it out for yourself?

To: PartyTime who wrote (21519)	3/16/2003 1:24:30 AM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25898

Yes, Saddam has foregone hundreds of billions of revenues by not complying with the surrender terms. This certainly doesn't make logical sense. As you said, he could have complied and ended all UN oversight thereafter. Refusing to withdraw from Kuwait when he knew his troops would be kicked out anyway also didn't make sense. The regime-change side has pointed out that his repeated selection of unreasonable, dangerous, and even disastrous choices is precisely what makes him too dangerous to rely upon a containment policy forever. If he were to be allowed to develop nukes, could he be counted on to back down in a crisis? No, he'd be likely to take things right up to armageddon. No one can read Saddam's mind. But my guess is he thought all along over the past 12 years he could avoid complying (and thus having to restart his WMD programs from scratch after sanctions were lifted), fool the inspectors, and/or just erode the sanctions away. That's the purpose of the sweetheart oil development deals offered to France, Russia, and China. Those oil deals are worthless until sanctions are lifted. Thus those countries have a financial incentive to find a way to end sanctions - either formally or defacto.

To: PartyTime who wrote (21519)	3/16/2003 9:22:47 AM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 25898

Had Saddam complied with the terms of surrender shortly after the Gulf War, he would have realized 300 billion dollars in revenue from the sale of oil (source Judith Wright, LA Times). That's 300 Billion dollars in economic opportunity he denied to his people in order to hang on to his WMDs and not comply with the cease-fire agreement.. And ask yourself why he would do that, unless those WMDs were more important to him than the economic health of his country. And if you contemplate the other economic misery the sanctions have created, we could see anywhere up to $1-2 Trillion in lost economic opportunities for Iraqis over the past decade. We both agree he's a dictator and that he's a bad one and all dictators should give way to at least some form of social democracy. But I think you perhaps make him out to be worse than he actually is. Hmmm.. maybe you need to spend more time familiarizing yourself with Saddam and his two sons: Just as his father was inclined to shoot and kill people in public, to make his opponents think twice, Udai, deciding that Saddam's personal valet, Kamal Hana Gegeo, had been unfaithful to them, reacted in similar fashion. At a public celebration held in honor of Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of Egyptian President Hussni Mubarak, Udai Hussein beat Kamal Hana Gegeo to death in front of all of the guests. (Shades of Al Capone, eh??).. shmana.com Others take the view that Hussein has a messianic complex fueled by his survival of coups, assassination attempts and the wrath of U.S. presidents, and may choose to go out in a blaze. He is convinced that his divine mission is to restore the oppressed Arab world to its former glory, some observers say, and may sacrifice his life to secure his legacy. mcall.com Inspired by his uncle's tales of heroism in the service of the Arab nation, Saddam has been consumed by dreams of glory since his earliest days. He identifies himself with Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylonia who conquered Jerusalem (586 B.C.) and Saladin who regained Jerusalem in 1187 by defeating the Crusaders. And this: Envious of his fellow Ba'thist Hafez al-Assad's success in taking control of Syria, Hussein confronted the new Syrian Ba'th leadership in a party meeting in Iraq in 1966. The split and rivalry persists to this day, for there can be only one supreme Arab nationalist leader, and destiny has inscribed his name as Saddam Hussein. pbs.org gwu.edu And you should also research Saddam's affinity for Stalin's life, particularly on how Stalin maintained his grip on power for so many years.. And then read how the USSR breathed a HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF when Stalin died (was assassinated?).. Saddam has grand visions of "eine volk, eine reich, eine fuhrer", just as Adolf Hitler did with the Germans.. And his entire life, and the lives of his sons, will be to fulfill that goal.. And I don't know about you, but I would rather not see Saddam become the Bismark of the Arab peoples.. Hawk