Iraq would be better off if Saddam Hussein were still in charge

[BOSSHOG]

bush says otherwise and we know bush is a liar. Is the world safer now that Hussein is gone? Not with two fucking war mongers in the oval office.

Please free republic lurkers prove me wrong, taking into account utilities, quality of water, availability of food (many Iraqi farmers are giving up rice production and turning their fields into Poppys for the Opium Product), jobs, health care facilities and not the least, security on the streets of the nation's capital. Oh yeah, throw in the death toll from 03 to current compared to 98 to 03.

[mike_c]

1. there is no question in my mind that even that objective, removing...

...Saddam Hussein from office, was a gross mistake. Iraqis were FAR better off under Hussein than under American occupation. What irony-- the U.S. deposed a dictator and replaced him with a brutal military occupation and a civil war.

[LiberalFighter]

7. To think that the United States is worse than a dictator such as Hussein

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Hussein had to be removed because the Administration either

couldn't bribe him or his price was too high in their opinions. The corruption was irrelevent. They couldn't control Hussein and that's why he had to go.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. Anybody who says otherwise ought to be willing to punt down the

Euphrates on holiday.

[texastoast]

4. Saddam was no good guy

But under his rule, FEWER people died than what we have done.

Bush is just like Hitler. He just hasn't finished racking up the total body count yet.

[BOSSHOG]

5. I agree, but

is it our job to attack a country, replace their ruler with whomever we choose, pretend democracy exists, most likely covertly pushing christianity on the country, destroy their infrastructure. If I were an Iraqi citizen I'd much rather have Hussein then bush. As you aptly point out, just check the body count.

[texastoast]

8. Heavens NO

Not only was the whole marketing of the war a complete snow job on the American people, that in itself a high crime and misdemeanor, but the war destroyed all the worldwide goodwill for the U.S. we garnered after 9/11.

He should be impeached now. I just wish we had some folks inside the beltway to get it done.:mad:

[partylessinOhio]

6. From what I observed with my own eyes, Saddam was a gentleman

which Bush is not.

The Neocons lied about Saddam to sucker fools into this war for their own selfish satisfaction.

Is the media afraid to interview the Iraqi people and let them speak for themselves whether they are better off under Bush or were under Saddam?

Come on media, get your cameras and reporters in there, tape the interviews and run them on primetime evening news! I double dog dare you!

Why are you hiding the people of Iraq from the people of America? Let them speak!

[tiptoe]

9. An "end" to Iraq/ME "war" isn't needed for "victory". Perpetual US economic drain suffices.

Such is the reality of behind-the-scenes, longer-term neocon "thinking", particularly radical-"conservative" Grover Norquist (who advises White House personnel at Wednesday-morning breakfasts and whose Neocon perspectives aren't involved with whether Iraq would be 'better off with Saddam'): Repeated annual tax-cuts for the wealthy in a context of wartime drain of resources (...an economic policy never-before-pursued in-the-history-of-civilizations¹. "Stick to principle...Stick to principle..." [i.e. Norquist principles] was the mantra whispered into the ear of Bush by Rove, as related by former Treasury Sec, Paul O'Neil, in The Price of Loyalty...² )
==> "Starve the beast" of revenues for US governmental domestic spending programs
==> inadequate and inefficient US-gov't operations performance ("Heckuva job" acclamations for foul-ups. [Is it really "incompetence" if it's deliberate?] )
==> all for the ultimate sake of "argument for privatization" of governmental functions (indifferent to unnecessary deaths of Katrina victims due to non-response of *-FEMA; environmental standards being undone by *-EPA; poor-monitoring of foods and drugs by *-FDA; willful ignorance of Mad Cow by *-USDA³; "the complete and utter abandonment of our small businesses" post-9/11 and Katrina by *-SBA⁴; no standards for voting systems by *-EAC⁵...on and on⁶.

-- Iraq was unrelated to 9/11 events (Iraq was in plans of PNAC Neocons. Certain events prior to 9/11, itself, and recent physical evidence [suppressed] kindle notions of an "inside job".)
-- Rumsfeld's invasion-prepatory troop assessment was grossly unrealistic (to most military experts) for ever achieving a definitive "victory" in Iraq. (Rumsfeld isn't 'stupid'...or is he?).
-- Rumsfeld's "failure" to destroy or secure Saddam's explosives bunkers guaranteed a long-term supply of munitions to its "looters", since become, apparently, a viable "enemy" in Iraq. (Rumsfeld wasn't uninformed ...was he?).

The "war" in Iraq is being used for purposes other than the well-being of Iraqis and the ME. Whether Iraq would be better off with Saddam isn't really an issue for the Neocons driving events; perpetual war and instability in the ME is not an unattractive scenario for them.

========
1. Reported on Air America Radio (Franken's team of Harvard researchers).
2. Transcript 60 Minutes interview of Paul O'Neil by Leslie Stahl
3. Hector Barreto Resigns As SBA Chief
4. Video, Stanley Prusiner —"I wanted to see Ann Venomon: FIVE TIMES Dan Glickman, the former Sec of Agriculture (Clinton), tried to set up an appt for me with her to tell her what was going on, and it never worked."
5. EXCLUSIVE: Assistance Commission Says 'No Standards' For E-Voting Devices, System 'Ripe For Stealing Elections'!
6. MAy 8 2007 RFK Jr Comments on corporations running government