GRUNHERZ, you handsomehunk, get it into you thick head that I am not a russian, neither am I from Russia but from Ukraine - a country that was suffering under the oppressive rule of russian governments for over three centuries until 1991 - much like Chechnya and a number of other subjugated provinces of the former Russian empire.
In the Russia-Chechnya conflict my sympathies are certainly not on the russian side. I surely regret that chechens were not able to inflict enough casualties on the russian troops to achieve independence.
The fact that losing the Chechnya, stopping the chronic warfare and reducing the role of military mafia in the russian government would greatly benefit democratic and economic development of Russia would be just the icing on a cake.
The whole world would have also benefited from their experience. When the future socialist economists teach the students how 13% flat tax did Russia no good, they will surely forget to mention there was a war going on.
Anyway, you should really stop making dumb assumptions based on the imaginary locality of my birth.
and being welcomed as liberators with hugs and kisses
When germans were "liberating" Russia and Ukraine from bolshevik rule, they were also mostly greeted with hugs and kisses. Later when soviet troops were liberating same area, they were greeted with hugs and kisses. I believe the same is true about your native land.
Iraqi know they are beaten - I believe the spread of TV and radio are responcible for that. You cannot fool a soldier that resistance makes sense because situation is good elsewhere. They can see. So they surrender, ho gome or switch to our side like Taliban peopld did. Some live to fight another day, whatever.
How about the subject itself. Do you really think it was a captain-level decision to let iraqis loot their state property and settle scores unimpeded? For every dollar of damage they cause now - by removing crucial equipment, wire, piping, documentation, etc, many times more will be needed to replace and fix it and the sude-effects of destruction - making those same iraqis dependent on the largesse of benevolent occupation authorities that much longer.
Wouldn't it be a proper time to show iraqis that we stand for law and order? Didn't we denigrade Saddam Hussein a few month ago for giving amnesty to criminals in prosons and releasing them into the streets? What do you think those criminals are doing right now with the cover of occupation forces?
miko