Sorry, this post is really scattered, but hopefully we can figure it out in the comments.
I've been doing a little research lately into Iraq and the Sunni Shi'a conflict and today I came across something interesting. I suggest you do some research into the Ba'ath party. You know, the ones that were ruling Iraq and killing people and all that jazz. In the beginning the Ba'ath party was a relatively pacifistic Arab-socialist revolution. Saddam Hussein was part of the Ba'ath party, but did not necessarily hold to their morality. He was very much in favour of miltarism. So all this time I thought that this war was about oil, and now I find out it was just a continuation of the Cold-War mentality that socialism is the greatest evil facing mankind. God forbid intellectual, moral, pacifistic, SOCIALISTS rise up and make us give our money away! They supported Saddam Hussein so that he would forever sully the name of the Ba'ath party in Iraq. By the way, members of the Ba'ath party have since the war been banned from the newly formed "democratic" government. One of the co-founders of the original Ba'ath party (before the Syria/Iraq split) was a Greek Orthodox Christian. The Dawa party (currently in power in Iraq) is a very strict Islamic militant group. Does any of this make sense??? I really feel a deep sadness for the people of Iraq. It seems as though NATO has now destroyed any hope of them being un-yoked from Islam. Oh yeah, all this was sparked by a news story I saw that said the US needs to give the Dawa party lots of guns and then go home and leave them be. I think we all know what would happen...
5 comments:
I think the Cold War and our current war over Oil are really about having someone (or some country) say NO to the United States. The Socialism/Democracy stuggle become a slightly moot point when you consider that both systems have yet to be experienced in a remotely true form. The United States was happy to deal with Saddam Hussein (and Osama Bin Laden for that matter) so long as he towed their line. The USSR and the United States were allies until the USSR became contrary. Cuba and the USA were friendly until Cuba started refusing to be manipulated by the USA.
The question then becomes; Why can countries like Cuba, North Korea, and for that matter China more or less ignore the demands of the USA and get away with it? China is understandable. Who wants to start a war with a country of billions that is well armed and has a few missile solos with lovely long range nuclear weapons in them to boot. But to the best of public knowledge, the Cuban government hasn't had nuclear power since the sixties. North Korea has only recently gained nuclear capabilites and there was a long period of foreboding knowledge of that without military action (though China wouldn't have really tolerated much.) These are all communist dictatorships as well (it pains me to lump Cuba in with China and North Korea, but I will), so what prevents them from being targets.
As far as Iraq is concered, do some research on Tariq Aziz and his response to the Dawa party taking power. He's a Catholic man that was Foreign minister and Deputy Prime Minister of the Bathists during much Husseins rule. A very interesting perspective.
Man, I wish I had the time and energy to keep up with all the political factions that are in conflict in Iraq. You guys impress me with your understanding of the situation. I am lucky if I can catch the evening news once in a while.
But in response to Matt’s comment. Maybe they don’t want to mess with N.Korea b/c: a)M.A.S.H. is still to fresh in people’s minds, and b)they have the capability of nukes. As far as Cuba, they have way too many allies to piss them off too much right now. No real militaristic threat, but our vacation plans would be put on hold.
On a slightly different note:
I heard an interesting reaction to Bush's annoucement last week to send in more troops. An interview-ee on CBC said that Bush was conceding they can not win this war, and so they are sending in more troops for a limited period. The expectation by the Bush administration is that unless they see progress towards peace, then they will not leave their troops in place indefinitely. In essence, this is our last effort to help, then we quit.
I know not everyone is interpreting his actions/speech the same way as that.
I think most American's don't even realize M.A.S.H. was about the Korean War and not Vietnam, and those that do probably think the States won in both Korea and Vietnam. Korea hasn't had nuclear weapons very long either, so what the hell was the US government doing while North Korea was being all pissy and saying they had a nuclear program that was ready to go any day for four years before they proved they had anything even remotely viable. Looking for some wussy little country with lots of oil and no real army they could kick the crap out of no doubt.
I've heard...but not actually have I ever confirmed...that American school texts teach that the states won the Vietnam War. And of course, most movies about it are so ambiguous about the outcome, that it is impossible to tell what really happened. If you can't trust school-books, then maybe the earth really is flat, and the moon-landing was faked.
Interesting, it seems as though Israel is a big part of the reason for the Iraq war, if not the only one. Not sure what I think about that just yet... But I think I may have some reasons why the US has not yet invaved Cuba. Two of Cuba's biggest and most powerful allies are Venezuela and China. If they were to invade Cuba, they would pretty much be declaring war on most of latin america, definitely Venezuela. I'm not sure how China would respond, but apparently relations between China and Cuba have been increasing ever since the fall of the Soviet Union.There is also talk of China setting up a military base in Cuba.
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