From: black.hole.4.spam{at}gmail.com (Don Hills)

In article , "Phil Payne"
 wrote:
>
>I'm not a lad and the deprecation is not appreciated.

My humour too subtle for a Brit? I never thought I'd see the day. I stand
corrected. I shall consider you a grumpy old man instead. (From the TV
series of the same name).

>Most of his gross excesses (to put it politely) were actually committed
>while he was a _friend_ of the USA, largely using US resources.  ...

When he was a "friend" of the USA, he simply didn't respect them. Now...

>But what can he do?  Precisely what resources can he mobilise?  He will
>inherit a desolated country with a starving populace.

A leader and country united in hatred of the US. Part of the population
hating the US for destroying their comfortable existence, and the larger
part hating the US for making their not-so-comfortable existence even less
so. If he can engage Shi'ite and Sunni in a common cause, it'll make
running the country a lot easier.

>Priorities?  As I read his history - clean water, food, medicine, power,
>housing.  Depleted uranium?  Minefields?  Unexploded US ordnance?

First priority will be to rearm to restore his internal power base and then
the power balance in the region. What's your guess as to whose money he'll
take to do so?

>Rape rooms have been the sole proviso of the US military, as far as
>available proof goes.

For the record, I broadly agree with you on the differences between what
Saddam Hussein has been accused of versus what he is actually likely to
have done.

--
Don Hills    (dmhills at attglobaldotnet)     Wellington, New Zealand
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