Bush's Iraqi Platitudes

The fact that we could not find many willing industrial nations to participate in what would otherwise be considered a criminal act actually speaks well of the international situation today.

In other words, you CAN'T suggest an ally we should have had with us other than France and Germany.

Words like democracy and human rights are meaningless.

Uh huh. Thank you for sharing.

That shows a massive ignorance of history. For one thing, the nations of the Middle East, with a few exceptions, are basically fake. The borders were redrawn after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. What we call Iraq today was formed in 1920 out of the provinces of Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra. And remember that the Turks had to deal with uprisings themselves.

I know this. And none of the examples you provide here have ANYTHING to do with promoting democracy or human rights. So why on earth did you bring them up as a refutation to my point? Oh yeah - you don't believe in those concepts to begin with.

Do you realize how much money this country spends to ensure that the democratic will of the Arab peoples is suppressed? Egypt gets about three billion dollars every year, same as we give Israel, to maintain the Mubarak dictatorship. We back repressive monarchies all over Arabia and then complain about the "lack of democracy".

No. Egypt gets about three billion a year as a reward for signing a peace agreement with Israel. We are, for the FIRST TIME under Bush, starting to apply real pressure on Egypt regarding political reforms. It's only a start so far, but it is a start.

That assumes that the rate of casulties never changes in any direction. The fact that one year's casulties are lower than that of the current year also says nothing. It is every bit as plausible for a massive offensive to break out on 1 January 2006 where in the space of another month, we lose as many people as we did in 2005.

Ah, so now you want to back off your 100,000 dead soldiers prediction.

The point is, you can't predict these things like that. The best thing is to avoid doing it.

This statement amount to nothing more than the belief that we should never take large risks. Sorry, but history doesn't reward countries who are unwilling to take risks. It thrashes them mercilessly.

Despite the fact that they were regular army troops, the NVA fought as guerillas, so this is just semantics.

No, it's decidedly NOT semantics. They had supply lines from and a home base in their OWN BLOODY COUNTRY which they held secure. How clueless do you need to be to not understand how much of a differrence that can make? Again, who's going to play that role in Iraq? You never answered.
 
Hey Mark -

You still haven't retracted the lie that the 100,000 casualties estimate from the Lancet study refers to civilians. Are you ever going to get around to that?
 
Hey Mark -

You still haven't retracted the lie that the 100,000 casualties estimate from the Lancet study refers to civilians. Are you ever going to get around to that?

You are also conveniently (big surprise) ignoring the Iraqi's own claim that they are being required NOT to count all the casualties. But even the lowest conservative estimates of civilian dead are at 30,000 or so. So do I think it is impossible that the number is really 100,000? No, I do not. It is the high end of the estimates for sure, and therefore, probably not any more accurate than the 30,000...the real number is likely somewhere between.

But I wonder: since you clearly feel 30,000 dead do not matter at all, but that 100,000 just might...where is your magical cutoff point? Do 31,000 matter? 50,000? When is it OK to be concerned? When there is a Democrat in the White House, maybe?
 
Thinking about it, the whole "we've killed as many people as Saddam!" argument really amounts to "accusing" the USA that it has no right to call itself free or democratic unless it is pacifist as well and never wages war whatever the reason.
 
Are you kidding? The #1 tool of holocaust revisionism is the "no written order" canard--the attempt to claim that, because there isn't a scrap of paper signed by Hitler saying "I hereby authorize the final solution", then it is all a zionist lie. They also make a big fuss about the fact that the contemporary documents usually use cover words like "resettlement" or "special treatment" instead of "mass murder".

You're confusing "written orders" with proof of Nazi Germany's views towards Jews. Your comment was in response to the evidence I showed of how many Shiites had worked in the Baath party, holding high positions in the government that Shiites had never held until Saddam. It's also been a historical fact that Turkey has always been more cruel to the Kurds than Iraq and has killed fare more of them despite the fact that unlike in Iraq, Turkey was not in a war and Kurds were never supporting their enemy.

Turkey gets about 80% of their military aid from the United States historically.

In a somewhat similar vein, in the 1930s and 40s, a few pro-Communist historians in the west had endevoured to "disprove" the "lies" about the Ukraine famine and the gulags by noting that the official documents of the USSR tend not to mention them.

Right but when they do that people who disagree tend to cite facts to the contrary rather than changing topic to the Holocaust.

You're doing the exact same "literary denial gambit": Saddam can gas thousands, but as long as official documents of the dictator's ruling party talk about the "unity of the Iraqi people", you think this somehow makes such genocides less likely.

No what makes this less likely is that the number of bodies in Halabja actually numbered in the hundreds, and those that were actually found died of a BLOOD AGENT!! Maybe there's your Holocaust connection afterall- they were killed by HCN! There's just one problem- there is nothing to suggest that Iraq was using blood agents at any time during this war. There are 10 documented cases of Iraqi using gas, and they used primarily mustard gas and one nerve agent.


Nonsense on stilts. It doesn't make it any less likely than the fact that Pravda in the 30s talked about "record harvests" and "freedom" all the time means that the Ukraine famine or the gulags never happened.


You are attempting to deny a dictator's genocide as propaganda because the dictator's press says the opposite--precisely the same worthless "logical" argument holocaust- and famine-deniers are using. [/QUOTE]

Hmm, more logical flaws. Stephen Pelletiere is not "the dictator's press". In case you didn't know he was our Senior CIA analyst during the Iran-Iraq war. His Army War College report on "Fighting a War against Iraq", written two years after the battle, goes into Halabja in great detail. Strategic studies from the Army War College are far more reliable than op-ed pieces, no matter the publication.



You're all using the exact same method for your denial: you believe the dictator's propaganda (whether it is about "resettling" the jews, "record harvests" in the Ukraine, or "unity of the Iraqi people" in Saddam's Iraq) and then dismiss the undeniable horrific reality because it does not fit with that propaganda.

Stephen Pelletiere was "the dictator"? Jesus Christ!!!! We have propagand officers for DICTATORS working in high positions of the CIA!! WE'RE DOOMED!! Michael Scheuer is probably Bin Laden's press secretary!! Jude Wanniski also has never received any money from the Baath party or Saddam Hussein. He was working for the Reagan administration at the time.

RIGHT!!!, actually. For you both "question" it for the same reasons. See above.

A lack of evidence is a lack of evidence. By your logic David Icke could beat you over the head with the Holocaust story when you demand evidence of his Reptillian bloodlines.

In any case, you don't seem to realize that your own claims disprove what you say. Whatever Saddam said about the "unity of Iraq", he had not the slightest problem of throwing anybody who opposed him into jail or torture or death.

Do you realize that the people who opposed him in many cases were armed insurgents, supported by the US, Shah of Iran, the Ayatollah, Israel, etc. Even terrorist groups like Al Dawa. When you have political opponents that "oppose you" by blasting you to pieces, you tend to be a little bit jumpy. I am not denying that he is by definition a dictator, nor am I denying that he would brutally suppress rebellions. However, because of my knowledge of history, I see little difference between Saddam and people like Lon Nol, Ngo Dinh Diem, Pinochet, etc. In other words, he is clearly not the "Butcher of Bagdhad", and the US supported him and put him in power. Also the US, through sanctions, DU, bombings, and invasion, seems to have killed far more people than Saddam ever has

He gassed Halabja, rather obviously, not because he wanted to kill all Kurds on the face of the planet, but because those Kurds, in his view, opposed him politically. That Kurds who sucked his penis were promoted is besides the point.

Opposed him politically? Try opposed hiim militarily. Halabja was the site of a battle. The Iraqis were in the town, detected the Iranian attack, and evactuated the town before they arrived. Some of the local Kurdish militia were fighting on the side of the Iranians. When the Iranians were driven out, a larger Iraqi force pursued them. Shooting gas at the town in this case would have amounted to firing what is a defensive chemical weapon into their own path as they chased the smaller Iranian force.


Well, maybe the revisionists agree the jews were alleged to have been killed in gas chambers--just like you agree the Kurds were alleged to have been killed by gas shells--but they deny the jews were really killed in gas chambers, just like you deny the Kurds were really killed with gas shells.

You missed the point entirely because you are hiding behind your emotionally charged Holocaust issue. The point is that it is nobody concedes that HCN in a gas chamber will kill people. However, chemical weapons on the battlefield are a different story. They are notoriously unreliable and difficult to use. More importantly, bodies killed by chemical agents in Halabja were found to have died from a blood agent, which Iraq was not believed to have possessed.

And why? Well, since they "know" by the "lack of documentary evidence" that no final solution had ever occured, the whole issue of revisionists is to find some pseudoscientific reason why the gas chambers couldn't have worked as "jewish atrocity propaganda" says they did. Incidentally, that the gas concentration could not have been made high enough to kill--an argument you seem somewhat familiar with--is a popular one with revisionists, too.

Are you debating the Holocaust or Halabja now?

You are doing the same thing: now that official state propaganda has "proven" Saddam wouldn't do such a nasty thing, talking as it does about the unity of all Iraqi (and similar B.S.), Mr. armchair chemistry expert had decided nerve gas could not kill this way, so that settles it. Must be jewish, I mean anti-communist, I mean neo-con atrocity propaganda.

Yes the American CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency is the "State propaganda" mechanism for the Iraqi Baathist party. So THAT'S why we had to invade, they had ruled our government agencies for over a DECADE!!

Nerve gas? Who said anything about nerve gas? Do you understand that there are Blister agents, Nerve agents, and Blood agents? Iraq was known to possess only blister agents(mustard) and some nerve agents(Tabun, VX, Sarin). Victims of chemical weapons in Halabja were found to have died from a BLOOD AGENT. This was confirmed by reporters and international observers.


But you didn't present any facts. You presented irrelevant evidence (that some Kurds were promoted by him, forgetting that the point was that Saddam was fighting those Kurds who opposed him politically), official state propaganda, and armchair chemistry as "evidence" to deny the genocide of thousands.

This may surprise you but it is you that haven't provided any facts. First of all, the amount of bodies found were in the hundreds, not thousands. Second, you have labelled American intellligence sources to be "official state propaganda" of Iraq. Lastly, I do not rely on "armchair chemistry". I was a veteran of the army who still studies tactical doctrine and strategy so I am familiar with the use and characteristics of chemical warfare though that was not my specific MOS. Gas on the battlefield has been problematic since WWI.

Now are you going to get around to presenting some evidence of these "thousands" who were gassed by Iraq.

You should be ashamed of yourself, but let me guess, you're probably proud of what an "independent thinker" you are for not buying "atrocity propaganda"... another point of similarity, incidentally, between you and holocaust or communist atrocity deniers.[/QUOTE]
 
Thinking about it, the whole "we've killed as many people as Saddam!" argument really amounts to "accusing" the USA that it has no right to call itself free or democratic unless it is pacifist as well and never wages war whatever the reason.


The issue is not whether America can invade a country for NO REASON, not any reason. Do you realize that this is a war, it has killed a lot of people, and most of those people are Iraqi?
 
In other words, you CAN'T suggest an ally we should have had with us other than France and Germany.

Try not invading.


I know this. And none of the examples you provide here have ANYTHING to do with promoting democracy or human rights. So why on earth did you bring them up as a refutation to my point? Oh yeah - you don't believe in those concepts to begin with.

Human rights is a shield for moral cowards, and you used it perfectly here. "You don't believe in human rights", what utter BS is this. Do you know what massive bombing campaigns do to people? Have you seen what America's cluster bombs have done to the people of Iraq, Kosovo, and Serbia? Do you know what DU is? Since you believe so much in Human Rights, perhaps you can tell me if somewhere in the list is the right "Not to have nations invade and occupy your country without reason, not to be bombed, etc."


No. Egypt gets about three billion a year as a reward for signing a peace agreement with Israel. We are, for the FIRST TIME under Bush, starting to apply real pressure on Egypt regarding political reforms. It's only a start so far, but it is a start.

We are not applying any "pressure" whatsoever. Egypt's decision to loosen up has resulted in landmark victories for the Muslim Brotherhood, with its deep roots to Islamic resistance movements. This was answered by police closing polling places and even beatings in a few areas.


Ah, so now you want to back off your 100,000 dead soldiers prediction.

100,000 dead soldiers? What are you talking about? The only figure that is 100,000 refers to the study by John Hopkin's and they are civilian casulties.


This statement amount to nothing more than the belief that we should never take large risks. Sorry, but history doesn't reward countries who are unwilling to take risks. It thrashes them mercilessly.

Large risks? What about the large risks Saddam took? You call them "large risks", I call it killing thousands of people who never did anything to you. It is astonishing the amount of luxury we have in this nation to call outright imperialism and massive violence "risk".

We have lost only about 2100 Americans in this war, while the Iraqis have lost many times that figure. Now tell me who is "taking risks"?


No, it's decidedly NOT semantics. They had supply lines from and a home base in their OWN BLOODY COUNTRY which they held secure. How clueless do you need to be to not understand how much of a differrence that can make? Again, who's going to play that role in Iraq? You never answered.

You think these insurgents don't have secure base areas? Many Muslim groups have also demonstrated that they don't need official state support as much as Marxist insurgent movements did.
 
You are also conveniently (big surprise) ignoring the Iraqi's own claim that they are being required NOT to count all the casualties.

I have made no statements in this regard. I am under no obligation to address whatever you wish me to address. But when you post a LIE, Mark, you DO have an obligation to retract it when you learn it is a lie.

But even the lowest conservative estimates of civilian dead are at 30,000 or so.

No, Mark. The Iraq Body Count estimates somewhere around 30,000 civilians. The UNDP estimates around 30,000 TOTAL, which could put the civilian total significantly below this.

So do I think it is impossible that the number is really 100,000? No, I do not.

In other words, you accepted a lie (that the Lancet refered to civilians) and now you won't retract it because you still find the lie plausible. That's quite the response, Mark.

But I wonder: since you clearly feel 30,000 dead do not matter at all, but that 100,000 just might...where is your magical cutoff point?

No, Mark. I never said 30,000 didn't matter. Nor did I say that 100,000 wouldn't have been worth it either. I did not take a position at all in this regard. I took a position about what the actual FACTS were, Mark. You know, those facts that you LIED about, and that you will not retract. This isn't about opinions you want to ascribe to me which I did not express, it's about the fact that you will not retract a lie when called on it. You really should be embarassed, Mark - perhaps you are, and that's why you keep changing the subject, but really, the easiest way to deal with this would have been to honestly retract the false claim back when I first called you on it. You've only dug yourself a deeper hole since then.
 
Try not invading.

Translation: I said we should have had more allies, but really I can't think of anyone who should have joined us but didn't, so now I'm trying to change the subject.

Do you know what DU is?

Yes. It's a heavy metal used in armor-piercing rounds. Search around this site a bit and you'll find that claims of negative health effects from spent rounds are treated, shall we say, skeptically.

100,000 dead soldiers? What are you talking about? The only figure that is 100,000 refers to the study by John Hopkin's and they are civilian casulties.

Have you even been paying attention to what YOU wrote? You said earlier in this thread: "Look at it this way, we can lose this war with about 2100 dead or we can lose it with 100,000 if people prefer." Since 2100 clearly refers to our soldiers, the only context in which this sentence makes any sense is if you're talking about a hypothetical 100,000 dead soldiers sometime down the road.

As to the 100,000 Iraqi "civilian" figure, I presume you mean the study published in the Lancet journal of medicine (I forget who did the study). If you had paid attention, you'd know that I linked to this study earlier. I pointed out that the study covers ALL casualties, and does not distinguish between civilian and military (that's the lie Mark won't retract), and also that the study had sampling problems and giant error bars, and so is much less reliable than the later UNDP study which had much better and larger sampling and much smaller error bars. But it's somehow not as popular among certain people, despite being much more reliable, because the number isn't as large.

You think these insurgents don't have secure base areas? Many Muslim groups have also demonstrated that they don't need official state support as much as Marxist insurgent movements did.

The only country that's ever been taken over by terrorists was Afghanistan, with the help of Pakistan, and Afghanistan was in much worse shape than Iraq with nobody but the local warlords trying to keep the Taliban out. Not a model likely to be repeated in Iraq. Marxists, however, have managed to take over multiple countries in the past. Yeah, terrorists don't need state sponsorship the same way Marxists did, because they don't accomplish what the Marxists managed to. So again: how is it that they're going to take over in Iraq?
 
I have made no statements in this regard. I am under no obligation to address whatever you wish me to address. But when you post a LIE, Mark, you DO have an obligation to retract it when you learn it is a lie.



No, Mark. The Iraq Body Count estimates somewhere around 30,000 civilians. The UNDP estimates around 30,000 TOTAL, which could put the civilian total significantly below this.



In other words, you accepted a lie (that the Lancet refered to civilians) and now you won't retract it because you still find the lie plausible. That's quite the response, Mark.



No, Mark. I never said 30,000 didn't matter. Nor did I say that 100,000 wouldn't have been worth it either. I did not take a position at all in this regard. I took a position about what the actual FACTS were, Mark. You know, those facts that you LIED about, and that you will not retract. This isn't about opinions you want to ascribe to me which I did not express, it's about the fact that you will not retract a lie when called on it. You really should be embarassed, Mark - perhaps you are, and that's why you keep changing the subject, but really, the easiest way to deal with this would have been to honestly retract the false claim back when I first called you on it. You've only dug yourself a deeper hole since then.


Your insistence that I am "accepting" the 100,000 figure is inaccurate. I merely said I do not consider it impossible, given that the Iraqi's themselves are saying that they are veing required to ignore civilian casualties. You seem to feel the 100,000 figure violates some sort of law pf physics; it doesn't. In any case,what I said was, the truth is (as is almost always the case) likely to be somewhere in between. You refuse to accept that possibility, because you want to keep the war in the most favorable light possible; I am merely interested in the truth.

You also refused to answer my question about how many civilian casualties would be unacceptable to you, since you clearly have no problem with 30,000. Quit dodging. How many civilian casualties are acceptable in this war?
 
Translation: I said we should have had more allies, but really I can't think of anyone who should have joined us but didn't, so now I'm trying to change the subject.

No the meaning is simple. I believe they should not have invaded. Plain and simple.


Yes. It's a heavy metal used in armor-piercing rounds. Search around this site a bit and you'll find that claims of negative health effects from spent rounds are treated, shall we say, skeptically.

Well a lot of international organizations and our military seem to think otherwise. I don't think I was given those mandatory "react to DU" classes in the army for nothing.


Have you even been paying attention to what YOU wrote? You said earlier in this thread: "Look at it this way, we can lose this war with about 2100 dead or we can lose it with 100,000 if people prefer." Since 2100 clearly refers to our soldiers, the only context in which this sentence makes any sense is if you're talking about a hypothetical 100,000 dead soldiers sometime down the road.

Yes I am referring to a hypothetical 100,000 dead soldiers. If we stay long enough, it can be 200,000 or as many as people are willing to part with. Because the war is not strategically feasable there is no chance of "victory", particularly when "victory" has not been satisfactorally defined from a military standpoint.

As to the 100,000 Iraqi "civilian" figure, I presume you mean the study published in the Lancet journal of medicine (I forget who did the study). If you had paid attention, you'd know that I linked to this study earlier. I pointed out that the study covers ALL casualties, and does not distinguish between civilian and military (that's the lie Mark won't retract), and also that the study had sampling problems and giant error bars, and so is much less reliable than the later UNDP study which had much better and larger sampling and much smaller error bars. But it's somehow not as popular among certain people, despite being much more reliable, because the number isn't as large.

Perhaps it does include military but remember many Iraqi soldiers, up to a divisional level, surrended en masse. It is also likely that many simply deserted. This still leaves room for a massive civilian body count, and the study actually attributed over half of that 100,000 to be civilians killed by the bombing campaign. If you are familiar with the illustrious history of American bombing campaigns this is not surprising at all.


The only country that's ever been taken over by terrorists was Afghanistan, with the help of Pakistan, and Afghanistan was in much worse shape than Iraq with nobody but the local warlords trying to keep the Taliban out. Not a model likely to be repeated in Iraq. Marxists, however, have managed to take over multiple countries in the past. Yeah, terrorists don't need state sponsorship the same way Marxists did, because they don't accomplish what the Marxists managed to. So again: how is it that they're going to take over in Iraq?

"They" will take over when the US finally does leave and the government shows itself as incompetent and impotent as most propped-up, hastily thrown together governments always do. There is also evidence that they are starting to make political in-roads as well.
 
Your insistence that I am "accepting" the 100,000 figure is inaccurate. I merely said I do not consider it impossible,

YOU advanced that figure as a civilian casualty total. There is no source for that figure as a civilian total - the closest thing is the lie that the Lancet figure is for civilians. You are repeating that lie. And your best defense is that YOU find it plausible? That's not good enough, Mark. You have no source for the claim you made, Mark, other than a lie. Get that? THERE IS NO SOURCE for your claim. I really expected better from you. It's embarassing, really.

I am merely interested in the truth.

Yeah right.

You also refused to answer my question about how many civilian casualties would be unacceptable to you,

Yes, I do refuse to. I am under no obligation to answer every question regarding every opinion I have. Nor do YOU have to answer every question about opinions you might hold. But you do have to retract lies when they are pointed out to you.
 
What about Democrats? ;)
No, I do not differentiate US civilians by other categories.


Year Zero said:
"They" will take over when the US finally does leave and the government shows itself as incompetent and impotent as most propped-up, hastily thrown together governments always do.
You do agree that "most" is still operative, and at least some of us do not share your pessimism. Merry Christmas. :)
 
No the meaning is simple. I believe they should not have invaded. Plain and simple.

I understand. But you made the claim that we should have had more allies. That claim becomes meaningless if there are no other allies you can think of whom we should have had.

Well a lot of international organizations and our military seem to think otherwise.

A lot of international organizations think LOTS of wacky things. Only some of those organizations get labeled as religions, but there's plenty more which should.

I don't think I was given those mandatory "react to DU" classes in the army for nothing.

Yes. You were given that class so you wouldn't be able to sue them for DU exposure when you got sick from unrelated causes. Lawsuits have all sorts of weird distortions on behavior.

Perhaps it does include military but remember many Iraqi soldiers, up to a divisional level, surrended en masse. It is also likely that many simply deserted. This still leaves room for a massive civilian body count, and the study actually attributed over half of that 100,000 to be civilians killed by the bombing campaign. If you are familiar with the illustrious history of American bombing campaigns this is not surprising at all.

The Lancet numbers are not reliable. There are problems with the clustering method, which makes the sampling non-random. The error bars are HUGE, going as low as 8,000 in the 95% confidence interval. The UNDP numbers are much more reliable, and also fall within this huge range. There is no justification for using the Lancet numbers in preference to the UNDP numbers.

There is also evidence that they are starting to make political in-roads as well.

Only in the sense that they're no longer boycotting the political process but now trying to participate. Why might that be? Couldn't that rather be a sign that they're realizing that violence isn't getting them what they want, and if they want to have ANY power they need to participate in the political process? And given that the insurgency is a primarily Sunni affair, the armed forces are primarily Shia, and the Shia have the population advantage as well, it's not plausible that the Sunnis are going to be able to actually take over (as opposed to just holding their own) through that political process. No, Sunni participation in politics is a CONCESSION to us and our efforts, not a threat.
 
YOU advanced that figure as a civilian casualty total. There is no source for that figure as a civilian total - the closest thing is the lie that the Lancet figure is for civilians. You are repeating that lie. And your best defense is that YOU find it plausible? That's not good enough, Mark. You have no source for the claim you made, Mark, other than a lie. Get that? THERE IS NO SOURCE for your claim. I really expected better from you. It's embarassing, really.



Yeah right.



Yes, I do refuse to. I am under no obligation to answer every question regarding every opinion I have. Nor do YOU have to answer every question about opinions you might hold. But you do have to retract lies when they are pointed out to you.


So, in order to have a discussion with you, I have to be willing to answer anything you ask me, while you ignore anything that makes you uncomfortable?

Well that's not going to work. Oh, well.

Hammegk
No, I do not differentiate US civilians by other categories.
Lighten up. I was joking.
 
I understand. But you made the claim that we should have had more allies. That claim becomes meaningless if there are no other allies you can think of whom we should have had.

No I didn't necessarily say the problem was a lack of allies but the ones we got are bad. Polish troops are not an offense to Islam; the last time Poland was in conflict with Islam was when they defeated the Turks at Vienna. British, Mongol, and American troops are extremely bad because all of these people have negative historical significance in the region. This undermines the effort to gain popular support. Of course invading a country for no reason does a lot more to undermine support.


A lot of international organizations think LOTS of wacky things. Only some of those organizations get labeled as religions, but there's plenty more which should.

I guess this means that the DU safety class I was given on two occasions in the military constitutes our government forcing troops to participate in a religious ritual and/or sermon. Better call the ACLU.


Yes. You were given that class so you wouldn't be able to sue them for DU exposure when you got sick from unrelated causes. Lawsuits have all sorts of weird distortions on behavior.

Or... maybe the military knows something about DU.


The Lancet numbers are not reliable. There are problems with the clustering method, which makes the sampling non-random. The error bars are HUGE, going as low as 8,000 in the 95% confidence interval. The UNDP numbers are much more reliable, and also fall within this huge range. There is no justification for using the Lancet numbers in preference to the UNDP numbers.

I am not famliar with the UNDP's count but go ahead and cite it and we'll move on from there. There is another issue to consider. Ordinarily in a war, the killing of soldiers is justified. However, when the WAR itself is not justified, killing defending soldiers is almost as bad. Those Iraqi soldiers constituted absolutely no threat to the people of the United States.


Only in the sense that they're no longer boycotting the political process but now trying to participate. Why might that be? Couldn't that rather be a sign that they're realizing that violence isn't getting them what they want, and if they want to have ANY power they need to participate in the political process?

Remember this political system is being set up by a foreign occupier. The elections have had a number of problems including hundreds of political parties and candidates that are more or less anonymous to the voters.

And there's more bad news

" One former minister in the interim government, Ayham al-Samarai, "launched a new political movement, saying he aimed to give a voice to figures from the legitimate Iraqi resistance. 'The birth of this political bloc is to silence the skeptics who say there is no legitimate Iraqi resistance and that they cannot reveal their political face,' he told a news conference."


It is nothing new for insurgents to seek a foothold in the government, it can buy them time, gain concessions, build support, obtain international recognition, and saves the trouble of creating a whole new "parallel hierarchy" that would require replacing the existing government from the outside.

This also makes it easier for them to gain a foothold in the military, thus transferring weapons to the insurgents or plotting a military coup if need be.

And given that the insurgency is a primarily Sunni affair, the armed forces are primarily Shia, and the Shia have the population advantage as well, it's not plausible that the Sunnis are going to be able to actually take over (as opposed to just holding their own) through that political process. No, Sunni participation in politics is a CONCESSION to us and our efforts, not a threat.


First of all, the Shia are happy simply because they have a majority. If the US tries to impede on their plans, they too will become the insurgents once again. Whether Sunni or Shiite, most people in the region, and in fact in most of the Eastern hemisphere, are simply more foward-thinking than Americans.
 
No I didn't necessarily say the problem was a lack of allies but the ones we got are bad. Polish troops are not an offense to Islam; the last time Poland was in conflict with Islam was when they defeated the Turks at Vienna. British, Mongol, and American troops are extremely bad because all of these people have negative historical significance in the region. This undermines the effort to gain popular support. Of course invading a country for no reason does a lot more to undermine support.
There is a great contrast between the coalition formed for the Kuwait War and that formed for the current Iraq War. Apart from everything else, nobody counted the allies in the Kuwait War because important players - Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, the UN - were on-board. The Iraq War saw poor Colin Powell claiming numbers of allies - Uzbekhistan, Mongolia, Nicaragua (score one for the Gipper), Lie-frickin'-beria. It was embarrassing to watch.

The first war was Bush Major's, and Bush Major has a serious intellect. The second is Bush Minor's. Oh dear.
 
So, in order to have a discussion with you, I have to be willing to answer anything you ask me, while you ignore anything that makes you uncomfortable?

No. You just have to retract lies that you post when you're called on it. It's really quite simple.
 

Back
Top Bottom