posted on March 10, 2003 06:51:44 PM new
Guess What?? They're talking about the war with Iraq on Larry King tonite. A caller called in from Iraq and said that on behalf of the Iraqi people, they look forward to the Americans coming in and getting rid of Saddam and look forward to being liberated (in so many words). If the Iraqi's were free to talk, I wonder how many also feel this way?
posted on March 10, 2003 07:10:05 PM new
Even though it was only one person, what do you think slaves would do if a foreign power offered to forceably free them ? I think it is safe to say that a vast majority would be in favor of the war.
posted on March 10, 2003 07:10:09 PM new
If you have any doubts, take a vacation down to the Central American country of Panama. The US liberated Panama from dictator Manuel Noriega in Operation Just Cause. Many Panamanian civilians died in the fighting, but every Panamanian that you'll meet will tell you that we did a good thing. They blame the deaths on Noriega.
Kinda funny how the "imperial US" packed up and left and gave the the Panama canal to the Panamanians. That's prime real estate.
posted on March 10, 2003 07:44:44 PM new
KD, the Iraqi people cannot say they want Saddam out, or want liberation, they would like to keep their heads.
They cannot speak out against their leader, its against the law
Yes, I'm sure there is a majority of Iraqis who will embrace any freedom from Saddam
Art Bell Retired! George Noory is on late night coasttocoastam.com
posted on March 10, 2003 07:53:35 PM new
Didn't we hear the same BS about the Taliban and the mistreatement of women in Afghanistan? Well guess what? It's worse now than before.. The country is rubble and the war lords have returned. The women are being abused again.
Nou you sit here in relative peace and say that you believe that the Iraqis are looking forward to bombs droping on their heads, their homes set afire and their children killed and maimed. Horseshit.
posted on March 10, 2003 09:53:32 PM new
Helen, I'm all for ridding the world of Hussein, but I don't think war is the way to go about doing it. Like Near said, since they are unable to speak, it was great to hear an Iraqi talk about it, whether he was alone in his view or not.
There are many reports of increasing abuse of women in Afghanistan and deteriorating conditions throughout the country. This is just one example. I could post thousands of such articles.
It's simply not true that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are wars of liberation as some people are being led to believe by the Bush administration.
Police Abuse, Forced Chastity Tests, and Taliban-Era Restrictions in Herat
(New York, December 17, 2002) - Afghan women and girls have suffered mounting abuses, harassment and restrictions of their fundamental human rights during 2002, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.
The 52-page report, "We Want to Live As Humans": Repression of Women and Girls in Western Afghanistan, focuses on the increasingly harsh restrictions on women and girls imposed by Ismail Khan, a local governor in the west of Afghanistan who has received military and financial assistance from the United States. Human Rights Watch said that the situation in Herat was symptomatic of developments across the country, and that women and girls were facing new restrictions in several other regions as well.
"Many people outside the country believe that Afghan women and girls have had their rights restored. It's just not true," said Zama Coursen-Neff, the co-author of the report and counsel to the Children's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. "Women and girls are still being abused, harassed, and threatened all over Afghanistan, often by government troops and officials."
Human Rights Watch found that women's and girls' rights in Herat had improved since the fall of the Taliban, noting that many women and girls have been allowed to return to school and university, and to some jobs. But the report found that these advances were tempered by growing government repression of social and political life. Ismail Khan has censored women's groups, intimidated outspoken women leaders, and sidelined women from his administration in Herat. Restrictions on the right to work mean that many women will never be able to use their education.
The Human Rights Watch report said that the Herat government has even recruited schoolboys to spy on girls and women and report on so-called un-Islamic behavior.
In some instances, police under Ismail Khan's command have questioned women and girls seen alone with men, even taxi drivers, and arrested those who are not related. Human Rights Watch said that men caught in such circumstances are usually taken to jail; women are brought to a hospital, where police force doctors to conduct medical exams on the women to determine whether they have had recent sexual intercourse, or if unmarried, whether they are virgins.
"Ismail Khan has created an atmosphere in which government officials and private individuals believe they have the right to police every aspect of women's and girls' lives: how they dress, how they get around town, what they say," said Coursen-Neff. "Women and girls in Herat expected and deserved more when the Taliban were overthrown."
Human Rights Watch said that problems for women and girls were growing worse in many parts of the country outside of the capital, Kabul. Throughout 2002, girls' schools in at least five different provinces have been set on fire or destroyed by rocket attacks.
