US in Iraq Worse Than Hussein, Stalin
The guy who famously attacked that statue of Hussein with a sledgehammer now wishes he could trade the US occupation for the old Hussein regime. The man, who did time in Abu Ghraib under Hussein, pines for the old days.
“The devil you know [is] better than the devil you don’t. We no longer know friend from foe. The situation is becoming more dangerous. It’s not getting better at all. People are poor and the prices are going higher and higher.”
Saddam, he says, “was like Stalin. But the occupation is proving to be worse”.
That’s just one guy’s point of view, but he’s not alone in wishing he could turn back the clock. The article cites a recent poll as showing that 26% of Iraqis also prefer the days of Hussein. 49% disagree and believe that life under US occupation is better than living in the old regime, which at first sounded like good news until I realized it meant that half the people in Iraq don’t think they’re better off today than they were four years ago.
Iraq is a very divided country, and the foreign occupiers have neither the trust nor the confidence of its people. Meanwhile, in America, we still don’t have a plan or any reason to think we can overcome the challenges in Iraq.
March 19th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
26% + 49%? What do the other 1/4th think?
March 19th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Personally, I think it is a lost cause; the people in that area have been cutting each other’s throats for so long over tribal disputes that they don’t know how to govern themselves. The only way they can function is for some heavy-handed authority to bully them into cooperating with one another.
March 19th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Uncle, I think the other 25% are probably some form of undecided. If the 26% and 49% are “better off under Hussein” and “better off under US occupation”, the only other options I can think of are “I dunno”, “about the same”, and “I’m too scared of the death squads to answer that”.
BobG, so what do you think we should do? If the cause is lost, should we keep fighting it? How do we stop?
March 19th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Oops, nevermind . . . comprehension problem
March 19th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
At this point, the country is up for grabs. If we turn it over to the Iraqi people, within weeks you will have another government just like Hussein’s; if we don’t leave, we are accused of imperialism. I think it’s a losing situation no matter what we do. Maybe they should ask the population if we should stay or go.
March 19th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
…which at first sounded like good news until I realized it meant that half the people in Iraq don’t think they’re better off today than they were four years ago.
Actually, no. That only follows if you accept that “undecided” = “worse off”.
2 to 1 the Iraqi’s believe they are better off, with a quarter undecided. Not all of the undecideds will fall on the “worse off side”.
Also keep in mind who is being polled. Does the study control for the Sunni population who (mostly) benefitted from Hussein’s thuggery?
March 19th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
I found it encouraging that so many Iraqis feel that they’re better off…
But remember, there’s a big difference between “I’m better off” and “I want the American military to continue occupying my country.”
FWICT, they’re glad we got rid of SH, but they’re ready to get on with the sectarian bickering unfettered by our presence, and are tired of being an occupied people.
March 19th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Menace,
49% said they felt better off. 51% said they felt otherwise (worse, about the same, undecided, etc). The statement “Half the people in Iraq don’t think they’re better off today than they were four years ago.” is supported by the poll.
March 19th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
A nationwide referendum? Perhaps they’ll write out the referendum in secret, then print up the proposal on sky blue paper and distribute it mere days before the election. Then perhaps one thuggish clan will pressure storekeepers into not distributing those sky-blue fliers and they’ll end up in the dump again.
We’ll give them 4 choices:
a) The US stays, spending a zillion dollars a second until y’all learn how to play nice as a country
againfor once.b) The US hands the whole mess over to the UN to screw up, just like we did after Somalia.
c) We put down the 10 years of AK ammo us US taxpayers paid for and back away slowly. We reserve the right to come back later and claim all that oil after y’all are finished killing yourselves.
d) Since there’s no real way to shake the “Imperialism” label, The US is hereby entitled to actually act like they conquered the place. Troops will be redeployed just to protect the oil infrastructure. Clerics and Clan leaders that can control the Wacky Iraqi will be rewarded with reams of superdollars or KFC franchises state-side with teh requisite green card. Bad Clerics and Clans get carpet-bombed back to the stone age.
March 19th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Brutal,
Otherwise does not equal “Worse off”. Better and worse are not the only choices. You actually have 4: Better, Same, Worse, Undecided.
You simply cannot take “Same”, “Worse”, and “Undecided” and add them together and call it all “Worse”. Charitably, you could take the undecideds and lump them with same using the arguement that if you can’t make up your mind then they must be substantially equal. Even that is a stretch as there is a difference between saying something is the same and that you can’t tell a difference (Statistics 101).
You can say that 51% are at least unsure if things are better, But you can’t say 51% think things are worse. The two statements are not equivalent.
March 19th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
These statistics are interesting, but I would like to see some other stats to permit me to view them in the proper context.
I would specifically be interested in learning the stats on:
1. The % of Iraqis who objected to Iraq’s unprovoked invasion of Kuwait in 1991;
2. The % of Iraqis who opposed Saddam’s genocide against the Kurds;
3. The % of Iraqis who supported Iraq’s 10 year war against Iran;
4. The % of Germans who preferred the days of Hitler 3 years after we defeated, and largely destroyed, their homeland; and
5.The % of Japanese who preferred the days of Emperor Showa 3 years after we nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki and they unconditionally surrendered.
March 20th, 2007 at 2:34 am
I wonder why we aren’t talking about the Brit poll.
March 20th, 2007 at 6:51 am
The Poll Can be found here.
The Question that you’re quoting is:
The answers are:
49% Better under the current system
26% Better under the previous regime
16% Neither, they are just as bad as each other
5% Don’t know/Refused
3% No answer
And the country isn’t as divided as you’d posture since 64% of those polled want a unified Iraq.
It will be more interesting to see poll results in the summer once the surge has had some time to take effect.
March 20th, 2007 at 8:01 am
Saddam was a rapist and a murderer, but at least he made the trains run on time.
March 20th, 2007 at 9:08 am
IF the Saddam Hussein regime was sponsoring terrorism against us, then at the most he should have been removed and his military power destroyed—war over…we win. Then LEAVE and say you saw what happend to him…don’t mess with us! That should have been done with a Constitutional Congressional Decalaration of War against the government of Iraq while securing our own borders first!!
But no… we gotta go “establish democracy” something our founders absolutely rejected instead of the “guarantee of a repulbican form of government” and which is an UNCONSTITUTIONAL use and abuse of our military. Also while our military is fighting over there, our government allows the invasion of our own country and actually imports Islam from whence the enemy comes that uses terrorism. To allow the enemy easy access and accommodation in time of war is giving them “aid and comfort”…the precise definition of “treason” according to Article III, Section 3 of the Coonstitution–to which our leaders and military personnel take an oath to “protect and defend”.
Our worst enemies are the traitors in Washington D.C. who bow down before their altars of globalism and multi-culturalism and upon which they are sacrificing our military.