On Wed, 12 Feb 2003 10:45:28 +0100, Christian Lheureux <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>Joe wrote :
>
>> I am deathly afraid of only two countries in the world today:
>> Iraq and North Korea. Why, because neither leader would have
>> second thoughs on the use of nuclear devices on the world.
>> If they don't care about their own people, what makes any
>> rational person think they would care about the world's
>> people or the results of their actions.
>
>I may have one item of a possible explanation to offer : it's all about
>survival. Neither Kim nor Saddam has yet (and I hope they never do) used
>nuclear devices against their own people. Of course, we all know Saddam
>gassed the Kurds (but does he consider the Kurds as his own people ? Just a
>question ...) and Kim is starving his population into blind obedience and
>semi-slavery. But they both (so far ... fingers crossed ...) have refrained
>from using The Bomb. Which ***COULD*** mean (I'm tripping on unstable
>ground, here) that they ***MAY*** care more for their own long-term
survival
>than that of their own population.
>
>So ... if we try to assess what Kim's and Saddam's priorities could be, I
>would offer the following order :
>
>1) Stay alive
>2) Stay alive and in power
>3) Stay alive and in power, and perpetuate the good life, even at the
>expense of the population
>
>If we get them to think that neither 3) nor 2) nor even 1) can be
fulfilled,
>then we may be in for a round of scorched-earth strategy. There is a record
>for that : What did Saddam do when he was kicked out of Kuwait in '91 ? He
>ordered the oil rigs to be incinerated. What did Hitler do when the Nazis
>had to leave Paris in '44 ? He ordered Paris to be incinerated (good idea
>his generals did not follow the orders, incidentally).
>
>That does not make any of them an innocent man.
>
>Please read : I'm not advocating bargaining with any of these guys. I'm
>simply trying to assess what could happen in the future, which may be
pretty
>soon in the case of Irak. If Saddam feels cornered in such a way that he
has
>no way out to ensure his own survival, what do we expect him to do ? Lock
>himself inside an underground bunker, grab his pistol and shoot himself in
>the head ? That would be a lesser evil and certainly no great loss. But
what
>would a bigger evil be ? Put a nuclear device on a Scud and bomb Tel-Aviv ?
>Do we want to take a chance ? I have certainly nothing against Tel-Aviv and
>its inhabitants. I'm just elaborating on the fact that, during Gulf War I,
>which country was the most hit by Scuds ? Israel.
>
>Once again, I do not advocate passivity. I advocate a carefully thought-out
>and carefully implemented course of action. At this moment, I do not have
>the impression the US Government is proposing that.
>
>And, once again I have to repeat myself, I have nothing, repeat NOTHING,
>against the American people.
>
>We are separated by the same misunderstanding.
>
>Christian
>

Same goes for me. I even choose to leave my country and move to the US.
Because I love the country and its people.
But that doesn't mean, that I have to agree everytime with its government.
Or that I hate the country and/or people if I disagree with its government.

Germany is now (since 1949) a democracy like the US.
Their elected leaders have the right to have a different opinion then their
counterparts in the US.
I think, that every democracy has the right to free speech.
If they do not agree with the US-opinion, it doesn't mean, that they hate
the US.
If the US (government/people) can not handle critizimn or different
opinion, then they are moving towards dictatorship.

My wife (American by birth even partly native American) says, that the
government acts like bullies and spoiled, snot-nosed children that just
think that they know it all and know it best.

I want to apologize for wrong/invalid information about the support to Iraq
during the iran-iraq war.

I thought the US are trying to hunt down OBL.
Looks alot like, if we can't catch him, we move on towards Saddam.
He might be easier to catch.
With all the effort put into the hunt to find OBL and coming up empty,
seems like the proof against Saddam is similar.
That doesn't speak for the US/European Secret Service.
Is this just to move away from own mistakes being made?

Sorry, again for wrong information.

Michael.

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