Originally posted by miko2d
His regime is more liberal than those of many of our friends - like the same Kuwait or Saudi Arabia.
Can women work in those countries? How about vote? Is oil nationalised there or owned by monarchs? Is there a representative elective body of any kind in those countries? Are their regimes secular? Who actually finances terrorism against US - Iraq or Saudi Arabia?
Going after Hussein instead of them would have been like going after Franco instead of Hitler. Which is what we are about to do.
Even forgetting him being the most progressive of the bunch, why would we care about that particular murderous bastard? He never hurt us - even after what we did to him. He will be replaced by similar bastard if removed. We acted as Saudi mercenaries once. Then we stayed there to protect the monarchy from their people. Look what it got us - our best friend and fighter for saudi democracy OBL got upset...
Let Sweden depose him if he bothers you that much.
miko
meanwhile on planet earth...
Saddam Hussein has started two wars, one against Iran, one against Kuweit. He has used chemical weapons against Iran and he has used chemical weapons against insurgents in his own country. He rules his country the same way a mideaval baron would do it. He orders people excecuted whenever he suspects anything, no matter how trivial. He has placed relatives in all positions of power in Iraq. He funds numerous terrorist organizations, he is implementing an agressive Chemical and Biological weapons program. It is a known fact that he has large stockpiles of Nerve gas and Anthrax, it is also widely known that he is agressively seeking to get his hands on nuclear weapons or radiaoctive material. He is also trying to obtain the smallpox virus from Russia.
Like it or not, he has named the USA and Israel as his main enemies. He will do whatever he can to destroy the USA and Israel. If you want to sit around arguing over womens rights in Iraq, then by all means go ahead.
When he gets his hands on any more potent weapon of mass destruction he will use it. And he will use it against the USA. No matter what you say, no matter what you hope, no matter how unpleasant that thought is to you, he will use it. Not through Iraqi intelligence agencies, not through his own armed forces...not in any way that can be traced back to him. But when that first smallpox virus bomb detonates in New York, or when that dirty bomb goes off in Seattle, he will be the one who ordered it.
Stick your head in the sand and compare womens rights or who gets to vote in what country. In the real world, real people have to deal with real dangers. Saddam Hussein is a threat to the western world, he will continue to be such a threat until he is removed.
