[Rhodes22-list] Fwd: Hello from Iraqi Kurdistan!

[john Belanger]

brad,
  it seems to me that some world leaders feel that those countries that are formed by decree by  outside parties can only be held together by strong, possibly tyrannical regimes. i allways believed it was a copout on the part of those outside governments to leave the people of a country at the mercy of internal tyranny. never before has the question of the right of national  sovereignty been raised. royal families moved members all over the place in positions of rule. favoritism was rampant. the point i was trying to make is that it seems to have been the policy in the past to bring pressure to bear on those in power to change  their attitude towards their people over time. not to assasinate the leadership leaving a power vacuum with no clear idea of who can be trusted to fairly and justly rule in the best interest of the people. the sectarian violence is there because there is still a power vacuum in political leadership. and now the pope is involved. people can and do
 debate and get mentally and physically excited about political diferences. but their religeous beliefs are something quite diferent. i dont know very much about far eastern nations. i think their wars and  acts of repression are political and not religeous based. that does not excuse them by any stretch. fortunate to have survived, too bad that we are capable of such cruelty. sorry
   


Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com> wrote:  John,

OK, I think I get your message. Only a Saddam like leader can run Iraq.
Only a Mao could run China, Stalin - Russia, Hitler - Germany, etc., etc.
Muslims aren't capable of self-rule - kinda like blacks can't get by without
government help. We need strongmen! Give me a friggin' break about non-bias
and non-prejudice.

WTF? You are welcome at my dinner table anytime to express your
views. Beware of a chopstick in your eye (at my dinner table) from someone
who survived the Cultural Revolution if you continue to believe that
nonsense. On the other hand, she would not get violent. You just wouldn't
get fed again at her expense.

Brad


On 9/17/06, john Belanger wrote:
>
> i really don't like the whole mess in iraq. sometimes i think that it
> could be simply a matter of too many voices. i dont mean all sides shouldn't
> have a say. its just that for instance just in this country we have
> congress, the white house, defense dept, the media, everyone running for
> office, joint chiefs, generals in iraq, fox news, just to name a few. most
> everyone has an opinion and almost noone is working from the same
> information. a general (retired) the other day was saying that the sectarian
> bloodbath is only being delayed by our continued presence and that what we
> are going to end up with in iraq is another strongman running things because
> that is the only way the country can be held together.
>
> Brad Haslett wrote: Dave,
>
> The author of the article you cite from Wapo has a new book coming out
> Tuesday. The article was adapted from his book - it is not news in the
> conventional sense. Wapo is not exactly unbiased (understatement) and
> exists primarily to sell soap and other goods.
>
> Here is a perfect example of the author's bias: "a recent graduate from an
> evangelical university for home-schooled children were...". He assumes the
> reader *knows *as he does that if he/she is an evangelical or home
> schooled
> they must be a dope. Chandrasekaran sounds like another elitist asshole to
> this reader, not that everything he says isn't true.
>
> Now, having said that, there were thousands of bad decisions made
> regarding
> the rebuilding of Iraq. That doesn't render the place hopeless. Start
> here:
>
> http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/
>
> Pick any of the other Iraqi bloggers on the left and read their accounts.
> You'll get the good, the bad, and the ugly. WaPo will only give you the
> bad
> and ugly.
>
> Not everything is a conspiracy.
>
> Brad
>
>
> On 9/17/06, DCLewis1 at aol.com wrote:
> >
> >
> > Hank,
> >
> > Interesting. More interesting: who paid for their trip? Who paid for
> > the
> > television ads? Who's behind this? Inquiring minds want to know - or is
> > the
> > answer obvious?
> >
> > I hope you had the opportunity to read the front page of The
> > Washington Post
> > this morning. The story in the center of the page is titled "Ties to GOP
> > Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent To Rebuild Iraq" - you may have
> > noted it.
> > You may have noted the quote on the top of page A24 "I'm Not Here For
> The
> > Iraqis. I'm Here For George Bush". You may have noted the office, and
> > named
> > official, in the Pentagon that was tasked to vett the appropriate
> neo-con
> > credentials for anyone sent to Iraq to rebuild the country - think
> > political
> > patronage and you understand staffing for the Iraq
> > rebuilding program. You may have
> > noted the 2+ full newspaper pages detailing some of the sorry
> performance
> > of
> > the "politically correct" crowd sent to rebuild the country. One
> > principal
> > activity of the politically correct crowd seemed to be telling people
> > "things
> > are great in Iraq" - think of your Kurdistan visitors.
> >
> > And now I think you probably know who paid for the Kurdistan visitors
> trip
> > and the television ads. And I think you know why it's appearing
> > this election
> > season.
> >
> > Dave
> > __________________________________________________
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> >
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