Life under Saddam's rule doesn't look that bad.

[Unperson]

I know this is only three minutes but I would like to see what that street looks like today. Destroyed.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6945753456468055843&q=saddam+statue&hl=en

[LibDemAlways]

1. Interesting. Wonder how many of the people

seen in that video died violent deaths and how many of the survivors would feel comfortable being out and about on that street today.

Right before the invasion I had a discussion with a rightwinger who was confident that we needed to launch the war to get rid of the horribly evil Saddam Hussein. When I said Bush was the greater threat and we would do vastly more harm than good, he just laughed. Bet he isn't laughing anymore.

[jpgray]

2. He's nastier than Tito, but his keeping relative order in a divided state is undeniable

[Unperson]

3. It is undeniable that the US has killed far more Iraqi civilians

than Saddam ever did.

[pampango]

4. That reminds me of a couple we had over for dinner last

Saturday. Great Democrats, blasting Bush and the war. Then the the guy commented on how much worse off Iraqis' lives are today than under Saddam. I agreed that things are worse there now, but said that I would not wish a brutal dictator like Saddam on anyone. The woman then said that at least Saddam kept his people under control.

I suppose it is a sign of the times that my first thought was that she was right, he sure was good at controlling his people. As I thought about that comment later, I realized that in my younger years I would have gone off on anyone praising a dictator's ability to "control his people." I used to think of that kind of attitude was very Nixonian and a typically conservative view that people are children and must be controlled for their own good.

I guess I am older (if not wiser) now and the political times are so different.

[pinto]

5. Locking.

Original poster is no longer with us. Thanks.