tyrants

[wannabehippie]

i would like to know a few things.

1) why did we ever support a tyrant like sadaam. we gave him millions in aid and knowhow throughout the 80's. this included chemical and biological technology. if he indeed still has these, we have only ourselves to blame. we knew he had them during the iran-iraq war and did nothing.
2) we continue to support tyrants in egypt and saudi arabia. i personally think saudi arabia has closer links to bin laden than iraq does. after all, SA supports an extremist version of islam in waahabism (sp?) and many of the 9/11 terrorists were from that country.
egypt has been home to terrorist leaders and did nothing.

also we should all thank israel for bombing the nuclear facility in iraq in 1982. at the time we and the UN condemmed israel for it, saying it was a facility for peaceful purposes. but i guess we are all glad now arent we?

peace

david

[JQ Public]

Good Points

[Rainband]

Politics..all Politics

[Aslkahuna]

Iran was the ultimate evil regime in the region which is why we supported Saddam Insane (like we did OBL after the Russians went into Afghanistan). This Country has a history of supporting some really putrid leaders and we have often gotten biten back for doing so. It's called expediency over Principles and often involves $$$.

Steve

[mf_dolphin]

1)Agree with Aslkahuna. I was stationed at Fr Bragg during the Iran hostage crisis. The Shah of Iran had been disposed and replaced by the Fundamentalist Ayotollah Komeni. Supporting Iraq gace us a strong military counter-balance to Iran. A classic lesser of two evils at the time.

2) The ruling family of Saudia Arabia is decidedly one of the most pro-western governments in the region and has been instrumental in controlling oil prices from the OPEC countries. While a lot of the 9-11 terrorists were originally Saudi, the ruling family has a fairly tight control of the country.

Egypt has been one of the more moderate countries in respect to Israel and was the first Muslim country to establish diplomatic relations with the Israeli government. Again a calming influence in the region.

[streetsoldier]

And I suppose, wannabehippee, that you would take exception to FDR and Churchill schmoozing up to Stalin, in order to defeat Hitler?

[wx247]

1)Agree with Aslkahuna. I was stationed at Fr Bragg during the Iran hostage crisis. The Shah of Iran had been disposed and replaced by the Fundamentalist Ayotollah Komeni. Supporting Iraq gace us a strong military counter-balance to Iran. A classic lesser of two evils at the time.

2) The ruling family of Saudia Arabia is decidedly one of the most pro-western governments in the region and has been instrumental in controlling oil prices from the OPEC countries. While a lot of the 9-11 terrorists were originally Saudi, the ruling family has a fairly tight control of the country.

Egypt has been one of the more moderate countries in respect to Israel and was the first Muslim country to establish diplomatic relations with the Israeli government. Again a calming influence in the region.

Very good answers. It is so simple to look back and in hinesight complain about the decisions of a country. But keep in mind it is impossible to look into the future and know for certain what will happen there. At the time, we sided with Iraq because Iran was the BIGGER evil then. Obviously, now times have changed...

Garrett

[Rainband]

In this world, todays friends are tommorows enemies, speaking of world leaders not you guys

[Aslkahuna]

was rabidly anti-Communist and referred to Stalin as not only a Butcher but a Fool after the USSR was surprised by the Wehrmacht. But when asked if he felt that offering help to Stalin might be embarassing, he also said that the if Hitler had invaded Hell he would find time to say a few kind words and offer help to the Devil. As it was, without the tremendous effort by the Soviets, it would have been a very iffy proposition for the US and Britain alone to have been able to defeat Germany-especially after the Japanese jumped in.

Steve

[streetsoldier]

I know...I pointed that out due to wannabehippee's infatuation with Marxism (or any socialist variant thereof, or independent of Marx and Engels).

National Socialism, Fascism, Communism, monarchy, oligarchy, whatever name one may use to describe the concentration of power in the hands of one man, party or cadre, it's all the same to me...ANATHEMA.

[southerngale]

Say it like it is streetsoldier