Iraqi Deserter Tells of Desperation

AP | 3/31/03 | BRIAN MURPHY

[biblewonk]

the liberals in this country are drunk on the freedom they take for granted,

That's a very good way to put it and also a very good way to describe the French.

[legman]

Thanks for the post. What are the chances that Al Jazeera will pick up this story?

Nadda!

[Moonman62]

Cloaked in patriotism and out doctrine of spreading democracy throughout the world, our fundamentalism is business, the unfettered spread of our economic interests throughout the globe.

-- Actress Susan Sarandon at an anti-Iraq war protest in Washington, DC on October 26

Maybe she feels guilty about her $20,000 speaking fee that she charges, even to charities.

[mommadooo3]

Sarandon has a brain that matches her chest.

It's my prayer for these iraqi people that they will have the chance of knowing freedom, hopes, dreams, and can find healing/peace after the brutal dictatorship of sodom insane.

[mommadooo3]

Go back and reread my reply....then TRY to mix in a little compassion with the 'reading comprehension'.

[the_doc]

His commanders described the war as an American grab for Iraqi oil. Anyone who says this war is about oil is the friend of Saddam Hussein and an enemy of the United States. This means that about ten percent of U.S. citizens are traitors.

[jwalsh07]

``But we decided it was either die from an American bomb or be killed by our own people,'' he said. ``It was better to run and take our chances.''

Every day, the numbers will shift to this point of view. History is clear on that.

[Yankee]

According to Saggy Boobs Sarandon

Thanks for clarifying that for me.

I've always wondered why the skank had two pairs of knees.

[houstonian]

Iraqis Celebrate Their Liberation: Resource Thread for Pictures & Links

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

This reminds me of the old Naked City lead in.

Weegee. I have the book in my collection. Wow...someone who knows about the book. Bump.

[Mr. Lucky]

That's an image I could have done without, thank you.

[Fzob]

bttt

[shezza]

Thanks for that translation. I was about to run your comments through Babelfish.

[Howlin]

``We only prayed we'd stay alive long enough to get a chance to escape,'' Ali said

[KC_for_Freedom]

Well, Sarandon is right about one thing. This crisis is the result of the conflict between socialism and capitalism. And fundamental islam does not want the western form of economy in their world, it leads to too much freedom.

Now I happen to believe that freedom and capitalism are good things for the world to embrace. So sorry for those who wish to stop it, they will really have to kill a lot of good folks. (Fortunately, these same people are against guns), so I guess they will hurl words at the onslaught of unfettered freedom and free markets.

[kimchi lover]

This is really heart-breaking.

[willyboyishere]

" profit at the cost of human life", Susan,you dodo, describes what Saddam and the BA'ATH PARTY have done to Iraq for the past 25 years, and that's the least of his crimes. Update your rhetoric, please, because as a 50-something year old woman, you make a good idealistic teenager.

[Cap Huff]

OK. I've gone back and re-read what you have written. On first read I understood that you are sympathetic to the Iraqi people who have suffered so terribly under Saddam and his Baath regime. On this point I am in agreement with you (and I acknowledge that from my short comments you could not have come to that understanding). What I understood on first reading, and what I still understand is that you are of the opinion that the Iraqi political and economic experience is insufficient to step quickly into a democratic/capitalist social system - a fault not of their own making, but of their circumstances. Perhaps that is true, but my own experience suggests otherwise.

Let me explain. In the last eight years I have met and spoken with hundreds of Iraqi exiles. A handful of them have become personal friends. What I have learned is that a significant percentage of ordinary Iraqi's are quite sophisticated in their thinking. Basic political understanding is probably at least as sophisticated as in the U.S. Certainly in past decades they have not had an opportunity to put that understanding into practice, but that has not stopped them from thinking and reasoning. In terms of economics, the ordinary Iraqi is a born entrepreneur and despite the repression of the Baath regime the people have remarkable economic skills.

I have no doubt that the Iraqis who have been living in the U.S. for some years are very well aware of the potential benefits of a free political and economic system for their own home country. The Iraqi people I have had contact with certainly are aware of these things, and as far as I know none of them have ever even visited the U.S. let alone lived there. They came out of Iraq largely because they already were aware of these things. They had no need of tasting freedom to know that they wanted it.

In short, I am very sympathetic to the cause of the ordinary Iraqi, and I am cautiously optimistic that they will achieve significant political and economic gains in the very near future.

I don't think you and I are in serious disagreement. I am certain that my very short and rather obscure comment hardly began to hint at what was on my mind. I should have been more explicit.

[piasa]

What's wrong with the liberals in this country?

Why can't liberals see throught the bullsheiss? Well, it's hard for them to see through BS when their entire sick worldview is constructed of it.

[JudgemAll]

Crying, the ultimate learning and knowing experience.