so, on that same note, it would be easy for the ignorant to say "see, i told you so". the fact of the matter is that there is a very large difference between chemical and biological agents and weaponized chemical and biological agents. that is my point.

 

I agree...I was only pointing out that Iraq did get those agents from us...however it was innocent and legal. They were also not weaponized when we gave them to them and are from the same stock we have given other countries the same samples for the same research purposes.

 

Regardless of the discrepancy concerning the arming of Hussein's military, certainly you must concede that US foreign policy in the Middle East has been shortsighted at best since the end of WW II.

Following the Iranian Hostage Crisis, the CIA under the Reagan Administration, together with the Pentagon, sought to "contain" the threat posed to our strategic interests by the Shi'ite fundamentalist regime.

Donald Rumsfeld was a key player in the sale of arms to Iraq with the intent of turning the Iran- Iraq war into one of attrition for both the Iraqi Republican Guard and the Shi'ite militia in Iran.

A similar tactic was used to foment and protract the Afghan-Soviet war (by more than a decade) beginning in the 1980's- a conflict that left much of Afghanistan in ruin, and effectively bankrupted the Soviet Red Army; less than 18 months after their withdrawal from Kabul; the USSR collapsed.

I have serious concens, now that the fighting is largely over, that the reconstruction effort will be slighted by bureaucracy between the United States and the United Nations, with the end result being largely similar to the current situation in Afghanistan, which many feel could fall victim to another fundamentalist autocracy, either Sunni or Shi'ite.

All in all, whether protesting in Washington DC or under fire in Basra, it is clear that fundamentalism of any form is a threat in and of itself, being that it can easily degenerate into autonomous militarism and shortsighted elitism, which can offer only a false sense of security at best.

Comments welcome...

Dave.

 

Bump... Surely someone has something to say in response. :dunno:

 

Whether or not the biological agents provided to Iraq by the U.S. were weaponized or not is a bit of a technicality. The Reagan administration supplied Iraq to create a war of attrition with Iran. The fact that the U.S. provided "perfectly leagal" bio agents under the pretext that they would supposedly be used for non-weapons purposes does not mean that the U.S. was not supplying arms and other resources to Iraq.

That's really all beside the point, because the issue I brought up about the U.S. supplying Iraq was that he was no less of an evil tyrant then as he is/was now. The only reason we supplied him then was because we wanted him to deal with Iran for us. We then invaded Iraq because he had supposed weapons of mass distruction; NOT because of some grand desire to free the Iraqi people. The government has simply emphasized that aspect of the operation because it makes them look good.

Constitutional protests are all well and good, but sometimes people really need to get their message out and getting permits to make the whole deal legit is a waste of time. I certainly didn't claim that it's protected free speech for a person to lay down in a busy street with fake blood splattered on themselves; and the people who do it don't make that argument either. They're perfectly willing to go to jail to get their point across.

I agree very much with the point about fundamentalism, but that's a whole different thread.

 

^ :werd:

And don't get me wrong either, I find the behavior of those who disrupt traffic and vandalize public & private property in the name of "peace" to be degenerate hypocrites of the lowest order. :angry:

Soon after the war started, I remember seeing [on the morning news] a horde of protesters sitting in front of some poor commuter's red Neon by the Pacific Stock Exchange in SF, when all the guy wanted to do was make a right turn... how is this effective? :dunno:
:thinking:
I swear I'd be on the fawking rev limiter, blowing my horn; bet that would get em moving....:angry: :angry: