[quote]lucasa wrote:
lixy wrote:
Very good point.
Compare to the report released yesterday by the STC organisation and where Iraq ranks lowest in the world in child mortality.
http://news.yahoo.com/...me/child_deaths
“Iraq’s mortality rate has soared by 150 percent since 1990. Even before the latest war, Iraq was plagued by electricity shortages, a lack of clean water and too few hospitals.”
Iraq was good before Saddam turned to the Dark(er) Side. Funny how when he was compliant and friendly with the Western World his people prospered (except the ones he killed), and his nation thrived. But for some reason, he chose to invade Kuwait and adopt more religious values and the cooperative prosperity evaporated.
Saddam was a monster; that’s not open to debate. He slaughtered anyone who opposed him and that’s what dictators do. But for the great majority of people (kids, women…), life was better under his rule, and that’s not open to debate either.
Human Rights Watch (criticized for having an Anti-Israel slant) feels there’s room for debate;
http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/wrd/iraq-women.htm
[i]Women’s Status in the Post-Gulf War Years
In the years following the 1991 Gulf War, many of the positive steps that had been taken to advance women’s and girls’ status in Iraqi society were reversed due to a combination of legal, economic, and political factors. [b]The most significant political factor was Saddam Hussein’s decision to embrace Islamic and tribal traditions as a political tool in order to consolidate power.
[/b] In addition, the U.N. sanctions imposed after the war have had a disproportionate impact on women and children (especially girls). For example, the gender gap in school enrollment (and subsequently female illiteracy) increased dramatically due to families’ financial inability to send their children to school.
When faced with limited resources, many families chose to keep their girl children at home. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as a result of the national literacy campaign, as of 1987 approximately 75 percent of Iraqi women were literate;
however, by year-end 2000, Iraq had the lowest regional adult literacy levels, with the percentage of literate women at less than 25 percent.
…
In 2001, the U.N. Special Rapporteur for Violence against Women reported that since the passage of the reforms in 1991, an estimated 4,000 women and girls had been victims of “honor killings.”
…
In 1998, the government reportedly dismissed all females working as secretaries in governmental agencies. In June 2000, it also reportedly enacted a law requiring all state ministries to put restrictions on women working outside the home.[/i]
Saddam, at one point, was just a dictator who slaughtered his own people, then he started invading other nations, defying the UN, and further oppressing his own people to gain greater power.
HRW seems to feel that this coincided with his adoption of Islam as a basis for national policy. But you’re right, it’s not open to debate, just because you say so.
[/quote]
Sorry lucasa. You must be a faithful watcher of “Faux” news.
You don’t seem to realize that Iraq was a land of honey and joy before the evil Bush brought in Halliburton.
Oh, he would never have armed our enemies and fired on our military.
In short, Bush wants oil money so he can retire rich.
Signed,
Fools.
P.S. Great post. You essentially destroyed all the stupidity in one foul swoop.