Related Information to Post War Iraq

Post War Iraq - Page 8

Fireduck that's one of the things I'm afraid of.Since the people of Iraq have been under the dominion of Saddam for such a long time and we see that they're like wild dogs running in the forest the idea to have a Islamic Nation is creepy to me. As you well mentioned the example of the Taliban, I'm pretty sure if you leave the people of Iraq alone they will create a Taliban there and do who knows what kind of things!. Its scary.

Iraq War Post

Saddam, the mini-Hitler?

From CSMonitor:

Officer's tale: Iraq's web of assassination
Human rights groups say Iraq's regime killed up to 300,000 Shiites. By
Philip Smucker
https://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0424/p01s04-woiq.html

A peek at Baghdad's homes of the rich and infamous
The greed of Hussein's cronies is on display in an exclusive Tigris
River neighborhood. By Peter Ford
https://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0424/p07s01-woiq.html

Post War Iraq History & Civil Business Politics

ABC News is really asking the questions. This is one thing I like about US journalists, they know what questions to ask and dig up dirty laundry.

From ABC News Nightline:

The contracts for rebuilding Iraq have gone to a couple of very large,
very generous, and very connected American companies.  A very small number
of companies were asked to bid on these jobs, it was an invitation-only
party.  But it was legal.  The argument being that time was of the
essence, and that there were national security issues involved, and
therefore there were only a couple of companies that could even think
about doing a job like this.

Now these companies contributed generously to both political parties.
Members of their management teams have served in the government, and
probably will again.  That's part of the revolving door that is such a
part of Washington.  Does that mean that there's anything wrong here?
Something, if not illegal, at least questionable?  Well it all seems to be
legal.  There are plenty of people who are troubled by the way this seems
to be working out, but that's more of a political question.  It was
President Eisenhower who coined the term "military-industrial complex."
That was certainly the enemy for many of us who grew up in the 60s and
70s.  He was referring to the close ties between the government and those
huge companies that sought and received government contracts.  It was just
assumed by many that this was a bad thing, that it was harmful for the
country, that it was somehow skewing the policies of this country.

But how did this really play out?

[hr]

They seem to be catching a lot of the 'most wanted' Iraqis, I wonder if the people of Iraq are getting a bounty for them? Those 'play cards' will not sell as much if they catch them all quickly.

Page 8 Iraq War Post

I think we vastly underestimated the Shiite reaction.

They have gone completely berserk, and you can bet that they are clearly lgoing to be looking for vengence when the smoke clears.

Now Iran is in there, stirring things up, trying to get a Muslim state in place.

The Kurds in the North are throwing the Arabs out of their homes.

The US has definately messed this part of it up.

Now we have Americans stealing their art treasures. Just what we needed.

JB,
You betcha they're paying a bounty for these guys.

Iraq War Post

Seems like the son negotiated this one. I wonder what the exchange was? Jail with no death? Info on Saddam? Info on weapons of mass destruction? Exile? I thought it was interesting that he is a 'Christian'. I wonder howcome Saddam had him as his 2nd in command.

From CNN:

TARIQ AZIZ IN U.S. CUSTODY

Tariq Aziz, the deputy prime minister in the regime of deposed Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein, is in U.S. custody, CNN has confirmed. Family members said
Aziz surrendered to coalition forces.
https://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/25/...main/index.html

Post War Iraq

People, I could not have said the following better... Hmmm... I wonder if I have a person that actually thinks like me out there.

From ABC News: (If you people see Nightline tonight, please review it here, thanks!)

TONIGHT'S SUBJECT:  We said one of the reasons we went to war in Iraq was
to bring them democracy.  But what if they want a type of government that
is at odds with what the U.S. wants?  And what about the rest of the Arab
world?  There's not a lot of gratitude towards this country, even from our
friends.  So what does this mean for the future?

Back during Desert Storm, I was one of the first journalists to enter
Kuwait City, before the main forces actually went in.  We were mobbed by
cheering Kuwaitis, who thought that we were the vanguard of an army of
liberation.  I remember that they were handing their babies into our
trucks for us to kiss, while many of them fired weapons into the air.  It
looked like something out of the old films from World War II of the
liberation of Paris.

I think that a lot of people, or at least some, expected the same thing to
happen in Iraq.  In fact, the night before U.S. forces crossed the border,
intelligence sources were telling them that the city fathers in one town
wanted to hold a victory parade when U.S. forces arrived.  When U.S.
forces did arrive, they ran into fairly heavy resistance. To this date,
there has been no victory parade.  So where is all the gratitude that so
many predicted?  As Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said this week, if the
Iraqis decide that they want some form of theocracy, like that of Iran,
that "just isn't going to happen."  Doesn't that go against the whole idea
of democracy? Are we in favor of the process, or the results?

ABC News correspondent David Wright is in Iraq, and he'll report on the
growing sense that postwar Iraq may look very different than what many
people expected.  And what about our friends in the Arab world?  How do
they view the war and its results?  A young woman named Lama Hassan, who
works for ABC News, went to Cairo to talk to people there about their
thoughts on the war, and on this country.  She is a native Arabic speaker,
and got some answers that Western reporters usually don't hear.  Now I'm
sure that a lot of people may not want to hear some of this, but I think
we ignore it at our peril.  Agree or disagree, this is the way people
feel, and that has to be taken at face-value.

So happy Friday, and I hope that you'll join us tonight.

Amen to that!

Post War Iraq - Page 8

Here you have to take a deep breath and look at the idea of "democracy".

It is a much misused term. In its strict definition, it means the rule of the majority. Do the numbers and that's the final verdict.

In that strict sense of the word, there is no room for the minority. They have no rights. There are no options, no dissent, and any radical, religious or otherwise repressive dictates may be inforced on the rest of the people.

I have, for years, wished people would stop throwing around the word democracy.

Just because the Shiites happen to be a numerical majority, that does not give them the right to enforce their religion on the rest of the people of Iraq.

And as a further note, even among the Shiites, only about 20% of them want a Muslim state.

Plus, there is a lot of bitterness between Iran and Iraq, the old Persian vs Arab enmities. A lot of the Iraqis don't like the Iranians coming in and mucking about right now. Why does that never get in the press?

Post War Iraq Politics Business Civil & History - Page 8

JB excellent article, I loved it!!!!.

QUOTE

Here you have to take a deep breath and look at the idea of "democracy". It is a much misused term. In its strict definition, it means the rule of the majority. Do the numbers and that's the final verdict. In that strict sense of the word, there is no room for the minority. They have no rights. There are no options, no dissent, and any radical, religious or otherwise repressive dictates may be inforced on the rest of the people.

Well, in the article the use of the word democracy is correct. If we want to be strict enough the word democracy comes from the greek word demokratia. So it's a combination of the word demos (the greek word for 'people')  and kratos meaning 'rule'.
Of course there is NOT such a thing as a full democracy. It's funny because this was born in Greece where they thought at that time that they had 'democracy' when in fact slaves and women could not vote because they were not consider citizens.  :
But the point here is that democracy is the people's rule. In this case, the iraqis, NOT the USA or any other country. If the people of Iraq want other kind of goverment they should be respected by their wishes...after all, the only reason the USA attacked Iraq was to disarm their weapons of mass destruction, right?...IF that's true (which nobody fully believes it) then they should let the people decide what they want to do. Come on, they need to stop treating iraqis like they're kindergarden kids. These people are very much aware of what they want and they're saying it! now, is anybody hearing out there?.