RM> err..  "..MORE into the stone age..."     B)

GP~They're certainly not backwards at all,having had the benefit of
  ~competing U.S. and USSR interests bringing all sorts of technology/money
  ~into the country for years, in an attempt to secure an edge in the
  ~resource wars!

Not for the average Iraqi citizen though.

GP~Not likely that this'll happen -- Saddam had this option/opportunity
  ~with Desert Storm! :P
GP~(the US should've done the job right back then -- if the goal was to
  ~neutralize SoDamn Insane, then they should HAVE DONE so!)

Yes.. They did stop a little short there..

 RM> Then they can go in with humanitarian aid (a.k.a Bribery)
 RM> and defuse Iraq without destabalizing the entire region,

GP~They've been trying this for years! (DECADES, even!) :P

Seems to me they've had a total embargo on Iraq for the
past 3 or 4 years. This was an attempt to starve them into
ousting their gov't, not aid.. although, granted, they have
started letting food and medicine in probably with the future
in mind...  "See what you'll get from us nice people?"
Problem is the bad guys in control are all wealthy enough
not to care and aren't big on caring for their own people.

 RM> But at least Iraq has oil so there's something there to protect..

GP~Protect, nothing -- Bush wants unlimited access to "U.S. Oil Reserves in
  ~Iraq" (yeah, it sounds ludicrous -- even the Senate debates were rather
  ~dubious of Bush's phraseology!) :P

Dubious come ridiculous..  but, say it any way you like, the US
doesn't own any of that oil. At best they are protecting
their 'right' to buy it..

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 * SLMR 2.1a * Happiness is good health & a bad memory *
 * PDQWK 2.52 #17


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