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How does that respond to my post?

I wrote that Saddam was the US's ally, I wrote that there wasn't a hue and cry for humanitarian intervention back then. By the way, you need to check out what Saddam was up to after the Gulf War. He kept on killing. It wasn't limited to the Iran/Iraq War. His numbers dwarfed Milosevic's after the war.

The point I was making is this: you had a genocidal lunatic in Iraq who was still killing (dissidents and Kurds, mainly). If retribution for past crimes applies to policy against the Serbs then how do you explain the attitude toward Hussein?

by Upstate NY on Mon Mar 9th, 2009 at 10:42:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The Kosovo war was sold as stopping an ongoing crime, not as retribution for past crimes.

Der Amerikaner ist die Orchidee unter den Menschen
Volker Pispers
by Martin (weiser.mensch(at)googlemail.com) on Mon Mar 9th, 2009 at 11:15:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Are you putting emphasis on the "selling?" I know that's how it was sold. But we're talking about the reality here, aren't we?

1,500 were killed over two years prior in battling between a terrorist group, the KLA, and Serbian police in the province. We are talking about a low-level counter-insurgency. This pales in comparison to what Saddam was doing well past the Iraq-Iran War. 30,000 are estimated to have been executed as political prisoners alone in the years leading up to the recent invasion/war.

by Upstate NY on Mon Mar 9th, 2009 at 11:28:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You accuse people, who care for human rights, to have objected the war in Iraq as bigot, because of extreme double standards. For that indeed it is relevant, which informations were out in the public, and not what the reality on the ground was.

Der Amerikaner ist die Orchidee unter den Menschen
Volker Pispers
by Martin (weiser.mensch(at)googlemail.com) on Mon Mar 9th, 2009 at 11:31:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
An in Germany there were as well demonstrations against the Kosovo war. There was for sure no 100% support for it.

Der Amerikaner ist die Orchidee unter den Menschen
Volker Pispers
by Martin (weiser.mensch(at)googlemail.com) on Mon Mar 9th, 2009 at 11:48:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I really think we're having a failure to communicate. I was just pointing out the irony of it all. This was in relation to comments about the media in Europe and elsewhere. If our media didn't consistently take the national line in foreign policy, then I'm sure people wold feel differently about the wars.
by Upstate NY on Tue Mar 10th, 2009 at 12:31:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Actually it was sold as an ongoing genocide.

Der Amerikaner ist die Orchidee unter den Menschen
Volker Pispers
by Martin (weiser.mensch(at)googlemail.com) on Mon Mar 9th, 2009 at 11:28:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The attitude towards Saddam was not as harsh as it should have been, because people didn't want a war. Nobody seriously denies, or has ever denied that Saddam has done lots of very evil crimes. But it when you try to stop a war effort against a country ruled by this dictator, it isn't the right time to put the focus on that.

Der Amerikaner ist die Orchidee unter den Menschen
Volker Pispers
by Martin (weiser.mensch(at)googlemail.com) on Mon Mar 9th, 2009 at 11:19:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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