The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5

=> Re: Saddam

Re: Saddam
Posted by pancho (Moderator) - Tuesday, November 8 2011, 3:08:44 (UTC)
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Arrow wrote:
>>...this democratic nation managed to blunder into Vietnam, and Iraq, and Afghanistan....
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>= But those were not a catastrophe on a national scale as was the case in Iraq. The problem was not just dictatorship, but Saddam as well.

...not a catastrophe? For whom? certainly it was catastrophic for the Vietnamese nation, and the Iraqi nation...and the Afghani nation. We were talking about the victims, no? The Iraqi people have been far more victimized by the United States than they ever were by Saddam...and I think the vast majority would rather have Saddam back, if it would get rid of the Americans and their democracy.
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>There are so many democratic nations other than the United States. Why are you so pessimistic? I presume all or most of them are working fine, n'est-ce pas?!

...they don;t work fine when they devolve into oligarchies...which they all do eventually...and where the people become a mob.
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>> democracy by itself is no promise of anything.
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>= What is the alternative then, dictatorship? At least in a democracy there's a chance to do something. Those in power in the US government are elected. If the American people decide one day to elect, say Ralph Nader or the communist party, they can... Yes They Can!

...of course it's preferable...although we get a good president about as often as England got a king, or queen. It all depends on the level of education among the people...
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>> Hitler was democratically elected to office.
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>= He lost elections twice, then he was appointed vice president and then he took over. He then abolished opposition parties, freedom of the press, elections... so on. The Germans did not elect dictatorship.

...but he WAS elected....Jimmy Carter also lost an election...so did Bush Sr.
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>> democracy can simply become a tyranny of the majority...
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>= You prefer the tyranny of the minority then?

...no...the critical thing is guaranteeing the rights of minorities...that's when you know the quality of your democracy.
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>> whatever you want to say about Saddam and Iraq under Saddam....I venture to say 99.9% of the Iraqi people had better lives then and would rather have those lives back...especially the dead ones.
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>= 99.9% of the Iraqi people had better lives before Saddam came to power... So?

...so they would rather have their dead children and parents and husbands and wives back...even if that meant getting Saddam too.



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