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sabang

I have. If it wasn't for the fact that Saddam was a military thug, and an unsuccesful one at that- getting his ass kicked by first the Iranians, then the Americans- he would not have actually been so bad as a leader. A country that has the highest standard of living in the region, the highest educational attainment and the highest participation of women in the Professions, has some things to be said for it. It was also run along secular lines- a bastion, like Turkey, against Islamic Fundamentalism.

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Texpat

Gassing the Kurds in the north.
Fighting with neighbors Iran for nearly a decade.
Invading Kuwait for riches to relieve his war debt. Threatening Saudi Arabia.

Within his first week in office in 1979, he tried and executed 22 Baath Party leaders for treason and being disloyal.

"Saddam Hussein's regime has carried out frequent summary executions, including:

• 4,000 prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in 1984;
• 3,000 prisoners at the Mahjar prison from 1993-1998;
• 2,500 prisoners were executed between 1997-1999 in a "prison cleansing campaign;"
• 122 political prisoners were executed at Abu Ghraib prison in February/March 2000;
• 23 political prisoners were executed at Abu Ghraib prison in October 2001; and
• At least 130 Iraqi women were beheaded between June 2000 and April 2001."

http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/19675.htm

Eventually he was tried and executed by his countrymen.

Your kind of leader, eh Sabang?

sabang

^ Thats about 10,000 executions, which pales in comparison to the casualties of war in Iraq.
Not my kind of leader at all, but it's going to take some years for Iraq to get back to the same living standards. Then you add the other risks of Civil War, Islamic fundamentalism, and the Insurgency and nope, never worth it.

Norton

^^Pick, pick, pick.

Texpat

Yes, a true champion of women's rights...

pick, pick, pick ...

panthira

Well a little political discussion and you guys are bickering already.

As an American I feel Obama might win. There is alot against him, we have many biggots still (my own parents used the n word until 10 years ago).
How great is it that we can have an incredibly talented man go this far in the election despite the fact that his race alone use to ban him to the back of the bus and seperate rest rooms in the past.

I left the US because it has become such an uhhappy place..perhaps he can refurish the country with a new sense of pride. As you know, in the past , when you traveled it was really cool to be an American. Now many pretend they are Canadian!

We need young new ideas..Mc Cains ok if there were no other choice..........

Boon Mee

Did BO's paygrade get demoted?

It seems the higher Barack Obama climbs in politics, the lower his pay grade gets. Don Surber finds a quote from 2001, when Obama served in the Illinois Senate, that indicates that his pay grade covered the kind of determination that Obama now says exceeds his authority. Obama told Rick Warren that he couldn’t comment on the moment personhood gets established:

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/08/18/did-obamas-pay-grade-get-demoted/

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Norton

^See the link is appropriately named.

Mr Earl

Do a little research on Barry O and you'll find contrary to the popular buzz Barry O is old style south Chicago politics in all it's nebulous glory. He's a typical vacillating tax and spend liberal democrat who has gotten to where he is largely because he is black. Americans want a black President unfortunately Barry O isn't the best choice out there amongst the many talented african american leaders out there.
His only real accomplishments that I can see are some community organizing in Chicago and some asbestos removal deal. He made an elegant speech at the DNC in 2004 and he's been riding that wave ever since. Really there's very little to go on.
Geraldine Ferraro summed it up and got severely spanked as a result.

panthira

Thanks mr earl I'll check Barry O out.

Boon Mee

McCain ahead by 5 points!


..have we mentioned that the War Hero always wins?
No? Well, it's gonna happen y'all!

http://www.drudgereport.com/

Mr Earl

Don't go counting yor chickens just yet.

It's gonna be be close but the man of tempered steel will win.

sabang

^ I'm not gonns be bothered reading no Drudge report, but the main Polls have Obama 2-3 points ahead. So close. The VP pick will be quite important, and of course the Dem convention is next, to get the bitter Hillaryites out of the way once and for all.

Mr Earl

^gotta agree Zogby had John Kerry leading in 2004 right up until he conceded
And Kerry was white as the driven snow!

Jet Gorgon

What I find interesting is how much stage time the royalty get at the convention -- two nights. And why add her name as a nominee? Obama looks like a concession man.
What would he do in a war? OK, OK, Mr Putin, you can have Georgia back but please let the pipelines keep flowing? In fact, take Poland and the Czech Rep while you're at it (aside to VP: do we need them as friends?).

smeden

usa is not ready for a nigger as president

Jet Gorgon

^ yous gonna get smakked upside da hed for that, boy.

lysander

You just made that up, didn't you? You ought to remember that 'the pipelines' aren't supplying the US with energy - they're supplying Europe. Playing clever buggers with other people's energy supplies might isolate the US completely. You might whine about Europe - what would you do if it disappeared?

sabang

Win or lose (and I think win) the fact that Obama has received the Democratic nomination, and is slightly leading in the Polls proves that wrong.

Of course there is a minority that will automatically vote against him because of his ethnicity- but that is reflected in the Polling. And the fact is, that is a dwindling minority- mainly older, mainly from the lower socio-economic spectrum.

I think the fact that Obama has got this far is a positive for race relations in the US.

sabang

He is a common sense man, not an ideologically constricted Hothead. So he would mainly avoid war, and only declare it when it was Just and Warranted. IMHO.

Probably the main question that has come from the Georgian fiasco. We sure don't unless they change their PM, or he becomes a good deal more sensible.

H'mm, surely thats the story of Politics. McCain isn't?
The dangerous politicians are Blinkered Ideologues, who let their narrow ideologies blunder them into situations they know little about. I could name names...