That's just it though man, our opinions don't matter. Why ask guys who have been there, speak some of the language, know a lot about the local culture, you can be a loudmouth on a mailing list without having to actually know anything, it's great.
Never mind the cultural immersion, area studies. Never mind the time dealing with the Arab street. We should just surrender now and get it over with. > -----Original Message----- > From: Bruce Sorge [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 2:21 AM > To: cf-community > Subject: Re: Ship Of Fools > > You really believe that? When was the last time you actually > stood face to face with an Iraqi who remembers quite vividly > what life was like during the Saddam era? > I am fortunate that I get this opportunity almost every day. > And I am not talking about the average Joe on the street. I > also have the opportunity to talk with communite leaders. > Just yesterday my platoon and our company commander had > brunch with a very prominent Sheikh in the area. We get to > learn first hand what life was like before we came, and what > their life is like now, and what they hope their lives will > be in the future. It is very exciting to see these > transformations first hand. > Anyway, they don't paint a very rosy picture of life under Saddam. > Yes, there was an infrastructure. It was fragile at best as > the millions that Iraq made mostly went to Saddam so he could > build his very lavish palace complexes, of which ther are many. > Everyone lived in constant fear. The Saddam Fedayeed (sp) > were everywhere looking and listening for anyone speaking ill > of him or the Ba'ath party. > If anyone or any group even thought of overthowing Saddam, > they were met with fast and furious death and torture. The > mass graves that have been found over the years are proof of this. > When we came in, the people working to support the > infrastructure left and almost immediately everything went to shit. > They had three state run television stations, and they pretty > much only broadcasted information that was pro saddam and > anti everyone else. > Their news paper was full of propaganda that was also pro > saddam and anti everyone else. > They could not own a cell phone and they could not have > internet in their homes. For the average person, they had to > go to something like a phone center to call anyone. > > So while there is still more violence now than there was > before we got here, the majority of Iraqi's that I have > talked to are all still glad that Saddam and his cronies are > gone. They also know that their legitimate government is > still new and there is still a lot of work to be done to make > it work. They are under no false pretenses that this is going > to happen overnight. It is going to take time. > They are also aware that the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police have > taken over security in almost all of Iraq's provinces. This > is a big help as they are seeing more of their own people > patroling the streets and less of us. > > Bruce > > On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 10:30 PM, Michael Grant [Modus I.S.] wrote: > > > It was extremely stable pre 2003. Good health care, safe > streets, good > > infrastructure. And all run by a guy the U.S. hoisted to power many > > moons ago. > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:281416 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
