Some Aren't Thankful For Iraqi Freedom.
<div class="IPBDescription">Well, Iraqis are.</div> <a href='http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/printpage/0,5481,9407891,00.html' target='_blank'>http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/printpage...9407891,00.html</a>
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Our gift of liberty
Those who condemned our part in the Iraq war should watch the Olympic opening ceremony. They'll see the fruits of our determination.
28apr04
THERE'LL be a moment in the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics that may finally shame the "peace" activists who jeer that we were wicked to help liberate Iraq.
A voice will say "Iraq!" and in will march a small team of athletes under the new white, blue and yellow flag of their freed nation.
And at that moment, many Australians will feel proud that we helped to give these athletes their liberty. They are free, and this was, in part, our nation's doing.
But other Australians should feel ashamed.
They'll see the Iraqis and know these athletes have nothing to thank them for -- certainly not their liberty.
Last week, the president of Iraq's National Olympics Committee, Ahmed al-Sammarai, gave a radio interview that, being inspiring news from Iraq, got as little attention as you'd expect.
Al-Sammarai was a member of Iraq's basketball team and a general in Saddam's army before he defected in 1983.
Last year, after we helped to topple Saddam, he was one of the nearly two million refugees who returned; and in February, he was elected head of Iraq's new National Olympic Committee. Yes, elected -- even that little step is a miracle, given Iraq's savage past.
Before the war, the Olympic program was run by Saddam's son, Uday, a psychopath who killed or tortured athletes who displeased him.
Athletes have told how they were beaten, jailed or endured their toenails being ripped out if they did badly. Soccer players who'd missed a penalty would be made to kick a rock.
It was worse for female athletes, al-Sammarai said last week.
"He abused them, raped some of those athletes. That (made) all the families in Iraq keep their daughters from going to join the sports events -- because of Uday.
"We look at the women's sports (today) and we have to start from zero."
But in the new Iraq, Uday is dead and al-Sammarai is elected in his place.
"We will not forget the painful past and will not allow what happened to be repeated," he said after the historic vote -- one of the first democratic ballots in Iraq for a national position.
"We will build swimming pools and stadiums in place of prisons and torture chambers . . . a free Iraq
has arrived."
One of al-Sammarai's challenges has been to make his athletes live like free men and women again -- and perform like them.
"They used to practise and participate in sporting events in fear," he said.
"We immediately tried to give them their confidence -- to let them feel they are human beings. They are free -- free to practise as they want, to object if something is wrong."
Freedom is a different world. Too many of us forget. Or never knew.
Now, months later and despite all the headlines about revolts and savagery in Iraq, al-Sammarai has retained his idealism and his hope in a free Iraq.
He told the US National Public Radio last week that sport could unify a country that so badly needed it.
"Now with the Iraqi media, we have 126 daily newspapers in Baghdad alone, and most of the people are looking for the sports page to get the news about the teams and the participation in Athens.
"Sports gives the hope and gives the unity to society, and so we are (trying) to bring the Iraq society together through sport."
So many newspapers: another sign of the freedom we helped to bring to Iraq. And here's another: one of the first two Iraqi athletes to be chosen for Athens is a woman, sprinter Al'aa Hitkmet.
And there are gestures of friendship through sport that give hope, too -- like the $16 million the United States gave last month for Iraqi sports, or the American boxer who trains Olympic hopefuls in Baghdad.
Iraq has only won a single medal at the Olympics -- a bronze for weightlifting in 1960 -- and so al-Sammarai doesn't expect many wins in Athens. Except this one: "To let all the nations and all the world see the Iraqi flag and the Iraqi delegations marching as a new Iraq, full of freedom and democracy."
Or as middleweight boxer Zuhair Khudhair told Sports Illustrated last month: "We really are back. We're back to freedom, back to the world, back to living."
And we helped give them this -- Australia, with its gallant soldiers, sailors and airmen, and its aid workers and civilian experts, too. Australia, with its fierce love of fair play and its contempt for thugs and bullies.
I know this has been a shiny-eyed story about mere sports, as terrorists meanwhile try to blast Iraq back into chaos or worse.
I'm not saying Iraq isn't in a bloody fight for its future. But consider how much that is good in this one story would never have happened had we and our allies never gone to war in Iraq. Had our "peace" activists "won".
Without this war, al-Sammarai and two million other Iraqis would not have dared go home. Uday would still torture and rape Iraqi athletes. Iraq's Olympians would perform in fear. Parents would not dare let their girls play top sport. Iraqis would not read of their team's deeds in free newspapers. National officials would not be elected in free ballots. And no Iraqi would dare praise freedom.
So when Iraq's team marches into the stadium in Athens, home of the Games, in August, we'll share in this triumph. We'll share, likewise, in the joy of the Afghan team, back after we helped to drive out the Taliban -- the despots who banned women from playing sport and had their country kicked out of the Sydney Games.
All this we can celebrate in Athens. Those of us, that is, who didn't fight so dishonorably against the liberation of these people, and against the free Iraq that people like Ahmed al-Sammarai are determined to build. I'll be cheering. I hope you can, as well.
bolta@heraldsun.com.au<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Our gift of liberty
Those who condemned our part in the Iraq war should watch the Olympic opening ceremony. They'll see the fruits of our determination.
28apr04
THERE'LL be a moment in the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics that may finally shame the "peace" activists who jeer that we were wicked to help liberate Iraq.
A voice will say "Iraq!" and in will march a small team of athletes under the new white, blue and yellow flag of their freed nation.
And at that moment, many Australians will feel proud that we helped to give these athletes their liberty. They are free, and this was, in part, our nation's doing.
But other Australians should feel ashamed.
They'll see the Iraqis and know these athletes have nothing to thank them for -- certainly not their liberty.
Last week, the president of Iraq's National Olympics Committee, Ahmed al-Sammarai, gave a radio interview that, being inspiring news from Iraq, got as little attention as you'd expect.
Al-Sammarai was a member of Iraq's basketball team and a general in Saddam's army before he defected in 1983.
Last year, after we helped to topple Saddam, he was one of the nearly two million refugees who returned; and in February, he was elected head of Iraq's new National Olympic Committee. Yes, elected -- even that little step is a miracle, given Iraq's savage past.
Before the war, the Olympic program was run by Saddam's son, Uday, a psychopath who killed or tortured athletes who displeased him.
Athletes have told how they were beaten, jailed or endured their toenails being ripped out if they did badly. Soccer players who'd missed a penalty would be made to kick a rock.
It was worse for female athletes, al-Sammarai said last week.
"He abused them, raped some of those athletes. That (made) all the families in Iraq keep their daughters from going to join the sports events -- because of Uday.
"We look at the women's sports (today) and we have to start from zero."
But in the new Iraq, Uday is dead and al-Sammarai is elected in his place.
"We will not forget the painful past and will not allow what happened to be repeated," he said after the historic vote -- one of the first democratic ballots in Iraq for a national position.
"We will build swimming pools and stadiums in place of prisons and torture chambers . . . a free Iraq
has arrived."
One of al-Sammarai's challenges has been to make his athletes live like free men and women again -- and perform like them.
"They used to practise and participate in sporting events in fear," he said.
"We immediately tried to give them their confidence -- to let them feel they are human beings. They are free -- free to practise as they want, to object if something is wrong."
Freedom is a different world. Too many of us forget. Or never knew.
Now, months later and despite all the headlines about revolts and savagery in Iraq, al-Sammarai has retained his idealism and his hope in a free Iraq.
He told the US National Public Radio last week that sport could unify a country that so badly needed it.
"Now with the Iraqi media, we have 126 daily newspapers in Baghdad alone, and most of the people are looking for the sports page to get the news about the teams and the participation in Athens.
"Sports gives the hope and gives the unity to society, and so we are (trying) to bring the Iraq society together through sport."
So many newspapers: another sign of the freedom we helped to bring to Iraq. And here's another: one of the first two Iraqi athletes to be chosen for Athens is a woman, sprinter Al'aa Hitkmet.
And there are gestures of friendship through sport that give hope, too -- like the $16 million the United States gave last month for Iraqi sports, or the American boxer who trains Olympic hopefuls in Baghdad.
Iraq has only won a single medal at the Olympics -- a bronze for weightlifting in 1960 -- and so al-Sammarai doesn't expect many wins in Athens. Except this one: "To let all the nations and all the world see the Iraqi flag and the Iraqi delegations marching as a new Iraq, full of freedom and democracy."
Or as middleweight boxer Zuhair Khudhair told Sports Illustrated last month: "We really are back. We're back to freedom, back to the world, back to living."
And we helped give them this -- Australia, with its gallant soldiers, sailors and airmen, and its aid workers and civilian experts, too. Australia, with its fierce love of fair play and its contempt for thugs and bullies.
I know this has been a shiny-eyed story about mere sports, as terrorists meanwhile try to blast Iraq back into chaos or worse.
I'm not saying Iraq isn't in a bloody fight for its future. But consider how much that is good in this one story would never have happened had we and our allies never gone to war in Iraq. Had our "peace" activists "won".
Without this war, al-Sammarai and two million other Iraqis would not have dared go home. Uday would still torture and rape Iraqi athletes. Iraq's Olympians would perform in fear. Parents would not dare let their girls play top sport. Iraqis would not read of their team's deeds in free newspapers. National officials would not be elected in free ballots. And no Iraqi would dare praise freedom.
So when Iraq's team marches into the stadium in Athens, home of the Games, in August, we'll share in this triumph. We'll share, likewise, in the joy of the Afghan team, back after we helped to drive out the Taliban -- the despots who banned women from playing sport and had their country kicked out of the Sydney Games.
All this we can celebrate in Athens. Those of us, that is, who didn't fight so dishonorably against the liberation of these people, and against the free Iraq that people like Ahmed al-Sammarai are determined to build. I'll be cheering. I hope you can, as well.
bolta@heraldsun.com.au<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
International politics doesnt work like a holywood movie.
freeing Iraq wasnt the reason for the war, it was the backpeddeling last resort, the crap they fell back on after it turned out the WMD reports were , how do you say, less then true.
I mean, dont get me wrong, theres no doubt saddam is less likely to kill people these days, however freedom is such a subjective term that its was too early to start proclaiming our greatness (while simultaneously denouncing the oponants of the war as dishonourable).
just please stop telling us we went in to protect freedom, it makes me gag.
*edit* stupid typos
i'm saying that's how it is now <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
im keeping that quote <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Should be: "Last week, the president of Iraq's National Olympics Committee, Ahmed al-Sammarai, gave a radio interview that, being an interview of a person in any National Olympics Committee anywhere on earth, got as little attention as you'd expect.
Those guys aren't exactly known for being inspirational or interesting.
Yey for the olympic team. Now what about the common people?
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Our gift of liberty
Those who condemned our part in the Iraq war should watch the Olympic opening ceremony. They'll see the fruits of our determination.
28apr04
THERE'LL be a moment in the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics that may finally shame the "peace" activists who jeer that we were wicked to help liberate Iraq.
A voice will say "Iraq!" and in will march a small team of athletes under the new white, blue and yellow flag of their freed nation.
And at that moment, many Australians will feel proud that we helped to give these athletes their liberty. They are free, and this was, in part, our nation's doing.
But other Australians should feel ashamed.
They'll see the Iraqis and know these athletes have nothing to thank them for -- certainly not their liberty.
Last week, the president of Iraq's National Olympics Committee, Ahmed al-Sammarai, gave a radio interview that, being inspiring news from Iraq, got as little attention as you'd expect.
Al-Sammarai was a member of Iraq's basketball team and a general in Saddam's army before he defected in 1983.
Last year, after we helped to topple Saddam, he was one of the nearly two million refugees who returned; and in February, he was elected head of Iraq's new National Olympic Committee. Yes, elected -- even that little step is a miracle, given Iraq's savage past.
Before the war, the Olympic program was run by Saddam's son, Uday, a psychopath who killed or tortured athletes who displeased him.
Athletes have told how they were beaten, jailed or endured their toenails being ripped out if they did badly. Soccer players who'd missed a penalty would be made to kick a rock.
It was worse for female athletes, al-Sammarai said last week.
"He abused them, raped some of those athletes. That (made) all the families in Iraq keep their daughters from going to join the sports events -- because of Uday.
"We look at the women's sports (today) and we have to start from zero."
But in the new Iraq, Uday is dead and al-Sammarai is elected in his place.
"We will not forget the painful past and will not allow what happened to be repeated," he said after the historic vote -- one of the first democratic ballots in Iraq for a national position.
"We will build swimming pools and stadiums in place of prisons and torture chambers . . . a free Iraq
has arrived."
One of al-Sammarai's challenges has been to make his athletes live like free men and women again -- and perform like them.
"They used to practise and participate in sporting events in fear," he said.
"We immediately tried to give them their confidence -- to let them feel they are human beings. They are free -- free to practise as they want, to object if something is wrong."
Freedom is a different world. Too many of us forget. Or never knew.
Now, months later and despite all the headlines about revolts and savagery in Iraq, al-Sammarai has retained his idealism and his hope in a free Iraq.
He told the US National Public Radio last week that sport could unify a country that so badly needed it.
"Now with the Iraqi media, we have 126 daily newspapers in Baghdad alone, and most of the people are looking for the sports page to get the news about the teams and the participation in Athens.
"Sports gives the hope and gives the unity to society, and so we are (trying) to bring the Iraq society together through sport."
So many newspapers: another sign of the freedom we helped to bring to Iraq. And here's another: one of the first two Iraqi athletes to be chosen for Athens is a woman, sprinter Al'aa Hitkmet.
And there are gestures of friendship through sport that give hope, too -- like the $16 million the United States gave last month for Iraqi sports, or the American boxer who trains Olympic hopefuls in Baghdad.
Iraq has only won a single medal at the Olympics -- a bronze for weightlifting in 1960 -- and so al-Sammarai doesn't expect many wins in Athens. Except this one: "To let all the nations and all the world see the Iraqi flag and the Iraqi delegations marching as a new Iraq, full of freedom and democracy."
Or as middleweight boxer Zuhair Khudhair told Sports Illustrated last month: "We really are back. We're back to freedom, back to the world, back to living."
And we helped give them this -- Australia, with its gallant soldiers, sailors and airmen, and its aid workers and civilian experts, too. Australia, with its fierce love of fair play and its contempt for thugs and bullies.
I know this has been a shiny-eyed story about mere sports, as terrorists meanwhile try to blast Iraq back into chaos or worse.
I'm not saying Iraq isn't in a bloody fight for its future. But consider how much that is good in this one story would never have happened had we and our allies never gone to war in Iraq. Had our "peace" activists "won".
Without this war, al-Sammarai and two million other Iraqis would not have dared go home. Uday would still torture and rape Iraqi athletes. Iraq's Olympians would perform in fear. Parents would not dare let their girls play top sport. Iraqis would not read of their team's deeds in free newspapers. National officials would not be elected in free ballots. And no Iraqi would dare praise freedom.
So when Iraq's team marches into the stadium in Athens, home of the Games, in August, we'll share in this triumph. We'll share, likewise, in the joy of the Afghan team, back after we helped to drive out the Taliban -- the despots who banned women from playing sport and had their country kicked out of the Sydney Games.
All this we can celebrate in Athens. Those of us, that is, who didn't fight so dishonorably against the liberation of these people, and against the free Iraq that people like Ahmed al-Sammarai are determined to build. I'll be cheering. I hope you can, as well.
bolta@heraldsun.com.au<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
lol?
Should be: "Last week, the president of Iraq's National Olympics Committee, Ahmed al-Sammarai, gave a radio interview that, being an interview of a person in any National Olympics Committee anywhere on earth, got as little attention as you'd expect.
Those guys aren't exactly known for being inspirational or interesting.
Yey for the olympic team. Now what about the common people? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
they are the common people..
the weightlifting team, to my knowledge, had one set of freeweights for years...
And the rest of you are fonts of optimism.
*note*one of the above lines contains sarcasm.
the weightlifting team, to my knowledge, had one set of freeweights for years... <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well, it's nice to see a $16m budget for guys lifting and dropping weights and running in an oval filled with red sand. <a href='http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=5993' target='_blank'>Elsewhere</a>, no party time.
I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice to see Iraq back on its feet. Even though I have my own opinions about the US invasion, what's done is done. Now is the time for damage control and trying to make the best out of a situation. However, sappy human interest pieces about the unifying effects of sports, one of the most corrupt industries on the planet, are just random noise with no actual signal behind the emotion.
Take for example this googled <a href='http://www.thebatt.com/news/2004/05/26/News/U.Credibility.In.Iraq.Said.To.Be.hanging.By.A.Thread-683298.shtml' target='_blank'>site</a>, the article is 2 months old, so the poll was carried out even <i>before</i> bombings of weddings and whatnot.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->According to a new public opinion poll conducted for the U.S. authority in Baghdad, 88 percent of Iraqis say they regard the Americans as occupiers, and only 7 percent view them as liberators.
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->"It means the coalition forces are now seen as part of the problem, not the solution," al Dulame said. "America's credibility in Iraq is hanging by a thread of 7 percent."
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I guess the 7 percent are in the olympic team?
Umm you forgot to mention his plot to assassinate Jimmy Carter.
But I guess that's because you’re unpatriotic and you WANT Jimmy Carter to die.
You’re just lucky I don't report you to the FBI, under the patriot act I could have hung naked in Times Square and poked with a taser.
anyway, i guess people just AREN'T ALLOWED TO BE HAPPY, are they. if they're happy, they're the minority, they're not the common people, they're wrong, they don't represent the REAL iraqis..
there's always something.
anyway, i guess people just AREN'T ALLOWED TO BE HAPPY, are they. if they're happy, they're the minority, they're not the common people, they're wrong, they don't represent the REAL iraqis..
there's always something. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You said in your title that the iraqis are happy for freedom, suggesting that the majority are, while in fact, as has been shown, the vast majority consider it an occupation. If you stated this in a clearer way, there wouldn't "always be something."
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->if they're happy, they're the minority, they're not the common people, they're wrong, they don't represent the REAL iraqis..<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't understand this much. Try making sentences.
edit: typo
Still, all to play for, Syria 2005, The Quest for More Voters.
I suppose it'll give America someone to beat in the Olympics.
Umm you forgot to mention his plot to assassinate Jimmy Carter.
But I guess that's because you’re unpatriotic and you WANT Jimmy Carter to die.
You’re just lucky I don't report you to the FBI, under the patriot act I could have hung naked in Times Square and poked with a taser. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
and the taser would be on fire.
Umm you forgot to mention his plot to assassinate Jimmy Carter.
But I guess that's because you?re unpatriotic and you WANT Jimmy Carter to die.
You?re just lucky I don't report you to the FBI, under the patriot act I could have hung naked in Times Square and poked with a taser. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
No, that was a rabbit that wanted to kill Carter, not me.
Wait - if you're living in America, and you aren't happy about your government, does that make you <b>not free</b>? It seems to me that's what the lot of you are thinking about Iraq. The very fact that the Iraqi people can <b>complain</b> about their freedom shows how free they really are.
Freeing Iraq may not have been toe objective, so what? It happened, it's a win-win situation.
Wait - if you're living in America, and you aren't happy about your government, does that make you <b>not free</b>? It seems to me that's what the lot of you are thinking about Iraq. The very fact that the Iraqi people can <b>complain</b> about their freedom shows how free they really are. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Seconded. With every small victory in Iraq, people try to drown it in contempt for what seems to be whatever America is doing at the time. If we pulled out of Iraq right now there would be swaths of people saying the military left without finishing anything, just to find a reason to complain about the establishment. That's what it feels like to me anyway.
Wait - if you're living in America, and you aren't happy about your government, does that make you <b>not free</b>? It seems to me that's what the lot of you are thinking about Iraq. The very fact that the Iraqi people can <b>complain</b> about their freedom shows how free they really are. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Seconded. With every small victory in Iraq, people try to drown it in contempt for what seems to be whatever America is doing at the time. If we pulled out of Iraq right now there would be swaths of people saying the military left without finishing anything, just to find a reason to complain about the establishment. That's what it feels like to me anyway. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Duh... George Bush is evil, and because he is evil everything he does is evil.
Why is he evil? Look at all these evil things he's done...
(uh oh... i think i overstepped my sarcasm bounds)
Wait - if you're living in America, and you aren't happy about your government, does that make you <b>not free</b>?
LOL@definition of freedom <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->reasa- You’re just lucky I don't report you to the FBI, under the patriot act I could have hung naked in Times Square and poked with a taser.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
LOL@definition of freedom
I don't understand this much. Try making sentences.
edit: typo <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
that's a perfectly good sentence lol
step 1: read
step 2: comprehend
step 3: post
<!--QuoteBegin-DiscoZombie+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (DiscoZombie)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->and the taser would be on fire. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
but America succeeded
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Totally, just the same way ol Saddam did. Hello citizen, this is Mr Dog, he'll be here to bite you as an incentive to divulge any "confidential information" you may have or that you may be willing to invent.
How does one measure success? If its by "number of people blown up by IEDs per week" then yes, total success there. If you measure it by "number of poorly equipped Middle Eastern countries stormed and toppled per decade" then yes, another success. If its by "number of toppled countries rebuilt" then it'd be a poor showing. Still, now Iraq's no longer flavour of the month there's bound to be somewhere else to topple. Can't go for the war vote if there's no war on, you know.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->
Man, you guys are such crybabies sometimes!
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
From the person doing the crying, while the rest of us are just poking fun at foreign policy. Welcome to Cafe NS, how are you finding the irony? "Mm, delicious, garcon".
EDIT: Bah, people posted after Communist.
Ah, just poking fun, I get it, haha, great fun, joy, wonderful.
It's whining.
On the one hand, it's great that the Iraqi Olympic team will be representing their country this year and won't be in the shadow of whichever Hussein son was in charge of things. There are other great stories coming out of the country, there will be more, and it's silly to try and dismiss this.
<i>However</i>... It is equally as bad to take such good stories as evidence that things are peachy-keen over there. We still have a very long ways to go. Sure, you can't please everyone, but with nearly 1000 US fatalities and daily violence and death, there's a hell of a lot of room for improvement. Iraq is not safe or secure as of this date, and to treat it as such (sending in civilians and contractors months ago, for example) is not a very good idea.
I personally think overestimating our progress in Iraq is more dangerous than underestimating it, but each story like this is encouragement that there may be more. It's rough situation, whether you support the war or not, but the important thing is that like it or not, we're there, and now it's time to find out the best way to resolve the conflict in the most beneficial for all parties involved - our soldiers, the citizens of Iraq, their new government, etc.
Good can come out of even the worst of things... I sure hope that's the end result here, however far down the road it may be :-\