-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Well, who better to teach Iraq about Human Rights than a country that can boast the "worst humanitarian situation in the world."
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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First, one should keep in mind that Fallujah is not a microcosm of Iraq.
Moreover, there are several elements missing which we would expect to encounter if things were really as bad as the press makes them out to be:
For one, there are no reports of massive waves of Iraqis fleeing from here to there. If people were desperately afraid for their personal security, there would be exactly such movements.
For another, if the vast bulk of the reconstruction effort had crawled to a standstill over a lack of security, we would be hearing about that, too, which suggests that a lot of work is proceeding. Perhaps not as fast as wished, but proceeding nonetheless.
For a third, for all the bad-news reporting, we haven't been hearing about deterioration in Iraqi quality of life. I don't mean complaints about being occupied, but rather want and deprivation.
Also one should take into account that another reason the picture of Iraq's condition may be incomplete is the fact that a large number of people have vested themselves in the failure of reconstruction. This includes, but is not limited to, the bulk of those now covering the war and the editors and media personages who oversee them.
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote: I don't mean complaints about being occupied, but rather want and deprivation.
Actually, I'd seen reports (about a month back) of rolling blackouts in parts of Bagdhad.
I dont know if it makes the overall "quality of life" is better or worse but thousands of cell-phones and laptop computers have been imported in thec past couple of months: stuff the adverage Iraqui had no acess to before.
Who knows? We might get the first Iraqui Flarite someday soon.
...though Treknobabble in Arab languages might be a rough translation.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
T'Pol: If we go to warp, only those of faith will be able to withstand the immense magnitude of pressure. Archer: Allah help us. If we succeed, the Xindi Crusaders will soon learn the punishment for their sins.
Sorry, I just had do an al-Qaeda-like "Enterprise" scenario...
And I sure hope someone's putting more effort into guaranteeing the Iraqis get food, clean water, sanitation, medicine, electricity, air conditioning, etc. than they're putting into making sure they have completely unnecessary tech gadgets.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
"We might get the first Iraqui Flarite someday soon."
At least then we'd have a first-hand unfettered perspective on things, y'know, one NOT automatically slanted against either camp by any media outlet. If nothing else it'd be a welcome reprieve from the endless stream of casualty reports and the liberal conspiracy theories Rob's begun to spout again.
-------------------- ".mirrorS arE morE fuN thaN televisioN" - TEH PNIK FLAMIGNO
Registered: Nov 1999
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quote: Actually, I'd seen reports (about a month back) of rolling blackouts in parts of Bagdhad.
So Iraq is like California already. Now that's progress!
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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"At least then we'd have a first-hand unfettered perspective on things, y'know, one NOT automatically slanted against either camp by any media outlet."
Well, if you want to read the thoughts of a regular Iraqi citizen, try here.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote: Actually, I'd seen reports (about a month back) of rolling blackouts in parts of Bagdhad.
So Iraq is like California already. Now that's progress!
I wonder if the ones in Bagdhad were casued by manipulation of the energy supply by greedy companies too.
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Cartman: "We might get the first Iraqui Flarite someday soon."
At least then we'd have a first-hand unfettered perspective on things, y'know, one NOT automatically slanted against either camp by any media outlet.
Yeah, that Al-Jezerra is the pinnacle of unbiased news c0overage.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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