Letters to the Editor
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Charlie's big question
I'm just restating your point, but it really struck me that the big question for Charlie was whether the mistakes that were made were inevitable. Isn't the big question whether the war itself was a mistake? Only someone consumed with justifying their support for the war would think it was important to ask whether the war could have turned out differently than it has.
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We must be better than Saddam!
Who knew there were so many avid supporters of tyranny and totalitarianism?
How hard is it to comprehend that what the US has brought to Iraq has left it worse off than it was under Saddam's tyranny and totalitarianism and **after** a decade of economic sanctions?
I think even that possibility is inadmissible to some people because it shakes their foundations of their world.
It is even more horrible to contemplate that this war was not forced on the US by stern necessity, it was entirely a war of choice. We chose this destiny and reelected it in 2004.
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@shooter
I think you have no idea what it was to live on the wrong side of Saddam.
No question. Without a doubt, anyone who fell afoul of Saddam suffered grievously, but I have no frame of reference for that. Maybe you do, and if so, more power to you.
My question was whether you think life is better now, yes. I'd like an answer, rather than an evasion.
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Anyone interested in knowing
What it was really like under Saddam in Iraq before we broke it can read through the archives at Riverbend's blog.
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
She and her family fled to Syria not too long ago so that should tell you something.
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Charlie and the Iraqis.
Thanks for posting the link to the video of Charlie Rose's interview. It's very informative. I don't think Rose was angry, snide, disrespectful, etc. From what I saw, he invited and sought to understand his guest's views.
Charlie gets a little excited (sometimes to the point of being abrasive) when he figures it's his turn to show that he knows something too. It seems to be about Charlie giving Charlie's opinion rather than Charlie thinking that his guests are fools need to be shown it in front of the nation (well...the late night PBS watching portion of the nation). Bill O'Reilly he's not. An important distinction for me. Overall, I love his show specifically because he invites a variety of opinions on a variety of interesting, controversial and sometimes unusual topics.
U.S. media coverage of the war still generally sucks? Definitely. Does the Republican attack machine still hold so much sway? Is it due to control of the corporate media by the conservative elite? My sense is that the public, by and large, has decided the war has been a huge mistake and does not want or need a sanitized version.
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Riverbend's blog
is worth reading through from beginning to end. It is an eye-opener (and it will break your heart).
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susan sunflower
I'm just visiting a neighbor. The Salon front page cover helped me understand?
The bandage on the eye-area made me think of a crisp Kohlrabi, apple-like, pop-bulb!
A purple Kohlrabi bulb has white flesh. Some Komatsuna greens may take down swells?
If I were a pro-kill neocon, I'd transform! How?
Plant Valentine, Giant Sun Gold, Sunny, flowers.
Velvet Queen, Ikarus, Full Sun Improved, Soraya,
and The Joker ETC., Sunflowers this year is great!
Sunflowers. yup.
`
Oh, not to mention: Starburst Lemon Aura, Double Quick Orange, Ring Of Fire, Moulin Rouge,
Strawberry Blonde, Peach Passion, and Chocolate? gads. The photo of the poor Rose with a bandage? I need a balm.
I'll check back tomorrow?
Tomorrow is a day away.
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please, I'm eating
Tempus, tempus tempus! The image of the exploding toilet created by George Idiocracy Bush made me laugh so much I choked on my regulation liberal quiche. Re Noam Chomsky: he's written a book simply called '9/11' and it contains some very shocking information that no one is ever going to see or hear on Fox or CNN. Anyone who wants the real background to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan should read it. As the Iraqi academic on Charlie Rose's show pointed out, none of this started in 2001 or 2003.
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Thank you
Thank you for posting that and the reference to the earlier article. This was very interesting, tragic and why isn't everyone having interviews like this? (Yes, rhetorical...)
I did want to say, I didn't find anything unusual about Charlie's behavior. He often interrupts a lot (to the point I stopped watching him - I saw too many interviews where I felt like he was the interviewee...). I think he was trying to ask the questions that he felt we would want to know. And, I think he probably was NOT surprised by what they had to say...
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Kuwaiti Times
For Iraqi women: Life better under Saddam
Published Date: March 25, 2008
BAGHDAD: Iraqi women say they are now worse off than they were during the rule of dictator Saddam Hussein and that their plight has deteriorated year by year since the US-led invasion in March 2003...
Before the 2003 invasion it was possible for a woman to lead a normal life as long as she followed state policy," she said. "It was even possible for a woman to engage in political and economic activities through the official Union of Iraqi Women," added Marugi. "When the regime change occurred in 2003, women, men, and children went out on to the streets to celebrate. We were very happy," she said...
Out in society, women are subjected to verbal abuse on the streets if they are not wearing a hijab and in extreme cases face being abducted by unknown gunmen, who sexually abuse and then kill them. "It has also become normal for women to receive death threats for working for example as a hairdresser or a tailor, for not wearing a hijab or not dressing 'decently'," said Marugi. "In addition to equal rights we are now demanding the 'right to live'," she added...
A report by the US-based Women For Women International released earlier this month said the state of Iraqi women has become a "national crisis" since the March 2003 US-led invasion. "Present day Iraq is plagued by insecurity, a lack of infrastructure and controversial leadership, transforming the situation for women from one of relative autonomy and security before the war into a national crisis," said the report...
There is terrorist violence, including bombs, against the Iraqi people in general on the streets. But there is specific violence against women who are being abducted for sex and subjected to many other crimes," Jabu said. "The Iraqi constitution protects and supports women on some issues, but there are other issues we have not agreed upon and we are doing our best to get them in to the constitution," she said. Iqbal Ali, in her forties, said death threats had forced her to close her hairdressing salon in Baghdad's central Karada neighborhood...
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MzkyNDU1OTY5