Soul Invictus

First, I am not pro-Saddam. Keep this thought at the forefront when reading the rest of my post.

We oft here about Saddam gassed his own people, and how he invaded Kuwait, both highly speculative issues depending on the reporting that you've read.

What I want to know is what problems do you have with Saddam? If they include the prior two issues I've posted feel free to reiterate them. I am interested to know what all issues there are that surround the following that insist Saddam must go. Again I'm not supporting his stay nor that his departure wouldn't be beneficial....I want to ascertain on what grounds that such dissidents of Saddam feel this way.

Invictus

leonarde

His mustache is too large.

faded_Glory

And his willie is too small.

fG

John Hancock

And he doesn't privatise his oil industry.

Martin Buber

braces_for_impact

And did you see the thickness of those reading glasses he was wearing? Sheesh. If that isn't enough reason, I don't know what is!

Mark

Just to spoil the fun...

I think the issue more important now (as Saddam's going no matter what now) is what to replace him with.

Democracy: Ba'ath party is made up of predominantly Sunni Muslims which make up a quarter of the population. The remaining two-thirds are Shia Muslim and Kurd. All three hate each other intensly.

Restore the monarchy?

American colony?

UN mandate?

It seems none of these are satisfactory. So maybe Saddam is everyone's second choice...

John Hancock

I don't think it matters Ngo Dinh Diem, Nguyen van Thieu Ali Babba or one of the fourty thieves. Our clit is in the clipper now.

Martin Buber :boohoo:

Liquidrage

These are not "highly speculative" issues.
The numbers of killed are "speculative".


Saddam was envolved in a lengthy war with Iran.

Saddam killed an est 50,000 to 180,000 Kurds depending on who's number you quote. Some died from chemical weapon attacks.

He then went into Kuwait and drew the focus of a US led UN coaltion. It was this action that put a small cease to his attack on the Kurds.
His forces were removed from Kuwait and Iraq was placed under stiff sanctions.
It is estimated that 1 million excess people died during the sanctions and Saddam shoulders ALL the blame for those deaths.


He failed to work with inspectors looking for WMDs for 10 years.


There are still missing Kuwaiti prisoners from before the first Gulf War.

Instead of devoting resources to caring for and feeding its people, Saddam chose to spend money building on palaces (48 since the Gulf War) and hoarding and stockpiling food for its elite military units. Iraq has reduced its food purchases by some $300-$500 million per year while upping money spent on military resources.

The power to lift the UN Sanctions rested with Saddam.
It was shown that when left to his own accord he is a mass murderer of a very rare kind. The sanctions and scruntiny on Iraq were justified. They could have been lifted and even when left in place those million excess deaths did not need to happen. He left the world no choice but to keep the sanctions in place. He choose not to get aide to his own people.

John Hancock

[Insulting crack deleted. -Pomp]

Martian Buber

Liquidrage

[Quoted insulting crack and the response to it deleted. -Pomp]