[vannrox]

Stooge for Saddam?

[What Is Ain't]

I have lived in Britain since 1976.

No offense, but we'd rather hear from someone who hasn't been reading the Guardian for 26 years.

[krb]

I was the first to vote that day. I voted Labour. The Conservatives won.

Is that the year Maggie took over?

[WhiskeyPapa]

Stooge for Saddam?

Perhaps unknowingly.

Walt

[Argus]

Communist or at the least hard leftist. ("Novelist, painter", voted Labor in the 80's, i.e. against Margaret Thatcher, etc.) Not surprising that, given a choice between a fascist dictator who tortured him, and the evil capitalist West, a communist would choose Saddam. After all German communists were crucial to the Nazis' takeover of power in 1932, viewing this as the better alternative to the "social fascists" of the democratic centrist parties. The rest of what this guy has to say is window dressing.

[Alouette]

You forgot the BARF ALERT.

[netmilsmom]

And where are the thousands of innocent Afghans that we killed? Yes some were killed, none were targets and until the counts equal that which we lost on 9/11 (add Daniel Pearl to that list), don't even talk to me.

[ClearCase_guy]

To campaign for the lifting of sanctions, for an end to the paralysing bombardment and daily threat of war is to stand by the Iraqi people; it is that policy which will help them to change the oppressive regime.

The Iraqis have had quite a long while to try to change their regime from the inside. No luck so far. Hussein in a threat to the outside world. Now the outside world will have a go at changing "the oppressive regime". Since that change is this woman's stated goal, I'm sure she won't mind.

[Dog Gone]

The bombing lasted 43 days, destroyed many civilian targets and massacred tens of thousands of defenceless conscripts. Iraqis were shocked and confused: it seemed bizarre to punish them for the crimes of their persecutors.

Uh, lady, those "defenceless conscripts" did have guns and had invaded a neigboring country.

What a twit.

[jwh_Denver]

"This war plan forces me to stand by the dictator who tortured me"

Deep, deep insanity. These people are absolutely determined to be miserable no matter what happens. The commie/lib mind set; guilt.

[desertcry]

"...my right to vote was one of my happiest day...." If this pitifull "human being" represents an average iraq, it is no surprise saddam became their dictator. This iraqi thinks Freedom is free, free for the taking at no cost. She of course had no idea, or refuse to beleive that tens of thousands of British citizens gave up thier lives to preserve thier freedom from hitler. Again this is not surprising, because she got her Freedom for free by just moving to GB, well maybe the cost of an airfare, what a bargain. She apparently got used to better. If she continues to think Freedom is free, she woun't have it for too long, saddam will follow her right into Westminster Abby.

[Pearls Before Swine]

I voted Labour. The Conservatives won.

If this was her first free political act, government torture and abuse didn't teach her much, did it?

[riri]

I am telling you. It will not be long before there are enough of these people to start voting themselves into power in Britian....And soon after, it won't be long until, best case scenario, you have an unstable democracy like Turkey-with a bunch of looney tune extremist trying to seize power. Britian, you need to get a handle on your immigration.

[skeeter]

So how do I now find myself standing by Iraq's dictatorial regime, while Tony Blair presents himself as the defender of both democracy and the Iraqi people?

Because, even though you've chosen the west as your physical home with all the material benefits inherent therein, like so many other transplants in the west your heart is still with the despots back home.

If you had the courage of your convictions you would show your solidarity with your Iraqi countrymen by returning home immediately. Of course you will not.

[mgstarr]

Haifa Zangana is a novelist and painter.

They left out "idiot".

[PsyOp]

Barf Alert Ping.

Lets see now. As best I can recall, 99% of all weapons supplied to Saddam's regime came from the former Soviet Union and France (we sold him a couple of helicopters and a few sat photos of Iran).

The war against Iran was Saddams war alone when he decided to grab some disputed territory along the border. Used the same excuse he used for the invasion of Kuwait - that the lands were historically Iraq's. Saddam used chemical weapons in that war. He figured he could get away with it because no one like Iran, and mostly he was right.

As for the rest of the claptrap this moron spews, it's not even worth the effort to refute.

[ScholarWarrior]

kill the wabbit

[Alas Babylon!]

Does she realize, or has anyone told her, that the sanctions would be lifted in a New York minute if Saddam would just step down?

[Teacher317]

You are "either with us or against us", they say. As an Iraqi that means choosing between war and the dictator.

Bzzt! Wrong. You can choose war by sticking with the dictator, or you can choose peace by refusing to support the dictator.

[TommyDale]

What makes you think this war will involve conventional weapons?

[aSkeptic]

She has valid points. She doesn't go far beyond personal experience. I'd say.. Try to put yourself in her shoes. The sad part is... nobody really cares. And she knows it. I would be irritated if this happened to me. What went wrong?

Well WJC I suppose! GHWB lost his 2nd term when he lost the propaganda war: 'what about domestic politics?'. In the four years of WJC's first term, not much media attention was given to the Iraqi situation. No progress was really being made. The same tactic used against GHWB could have been used against WJC: 'What about foreign affairs? What is going on in Iraq?. Iraqis may not have died off in droves as many believe (propaganda.. Whatever) but in either case we ought to be more responsible. You can't just kill the bully and become the next bully and expect them to run to you with open arms. What happened to us? We just decided to sit on the bench while Iraqis suffered needlessly for 8 or more years?

When GHWB lost to WJC, so did the war. If COTUS had made a declaration of war it could have put the screws into any administration to press it into completion. Declaration of war is effective. If your going to war, make war the right way. Huge words on the times reading "Congress Declares War" mobilizes the nation with common objectives, a clear target, and a sense of its end would be like (i.e.. Victory). It is WJC's fault that he didn't care about the Iraqi's, it was GHWBr's *mistake* of settling with half-assed legal mumbo jumbo and faux authority of the UN. Iraq isn't even in the UN. Its neighbors aren't in the UN. Iraq didn't attack a UN affiliated nation! W! Don't make this mistake again! COTUS is damn'ed if they don't declare war, not you!.... If they have the brains to write "The Congress of the United States Declares War on Iraq today on the nineteenth of July this year of two thousand and two." W can do the rest. IF COTUS does not declare war and we get hit by a WMD, they are to blame not POTUS.

More importantly, the Iraqi's situation wasn't expounded much in the media. The public didn't care because the public wasn't informed. Imagine being under 10 years of sanctions, while the government is the enemy of thought, and the international community imposes rules that punish civilians more than Saddam personally. Who builds 29 palaces (or whatever)... Saddam has survived many coup attempts and I don't think an unarmed populace such as the Iraqis should be to blame for its totalitarian government. Especially when you can't buy guns legally in the market!

If Iraqis have modern medicine and manufacturing, its in spite of the dictator not because of him. They are pretty resourceful, perhaps an up and coming nation. At least compared to their neighbors! They don't have to be sworn enemies. Or at least they didn't have to be. 20/20 hind sight looks so clear. Especially when I was only 13 when Desert Storm started.

Do on to others as you would have done on to you. And as the latines would say "don't do on the others as you would not wish it done to you" (I'm poorly quoting from Hobbe's Leviathan).