On 30 Jul 2002 at 18:32, Casey wrote:
>
> [Joe]
> I would like us to be more selective about to whom we sell our
> weapons, taking into account their form of government as well as
> whether or not it is tilting in our direction at the time. But having said
> that, every sovereign nation has the right to make or purchase arms to
> defend its citizens and borders.
>
> [ben]
> Or attack their neighbors. Or kill their own citizens. As long as somewhere
> in the ruckus, an American corporation makes money...
>
> [Joe 2]
> His attacking his neighbors, killing his own citizens with chemical
> weapons, and attempting to manufacture and obtain weapons of mass
> destruction are three reasons that we find Saddam Hussein's rule of
> Iraq unacceptable. We will not sell weapons to him no matter how
> much money an american corporation could profit from such a deal.
>
> [Casey]
> If I remember correctly, the US supported Iraq, and Saddam Hussein, in
> their war against Iran. The govt. supplied them with the weaponry and it's
> explicit support through various means of monetary funding. At that time,
> he was also REALLY chummy with the CIA. Why so? Because, he was fighting the
> "enemy" of the US - Iran. Why wasn't he considered an enemy then? Didn't the govt.
> have the intelligence to indicate that Iraq was in the midst of possibly having
> the technology to develop weapons of mass destruction --- I'm referring to
> nuclear weapons, and not bio/chem weapons; since we all saw the effects
> those had on the Iranians in combat (hell, even his own troops).
>
The 1981 Israeli bombing of the under-french-assisted-construction Osirak nuclear
reactor near Baghdad was, in retrospect, a great decision.
>
> It just seems like the US picks and chooses it's "friends" and "enemies" without
> seriously considering the consequences. If the US were truly considering the
> possibility of these consequences you would think that the US would have been
> playing the game better. I mean the US is, after all, one of the most technologically
> developed nations on this planet. Didn't we need some brains for that? Oh, I
> forgot, technology and the workings of the govt. do not fall under the same brain trust,
> but I digress.
>
> If the US really wants to win the hearts and minds of foreign people, like Dubya says,
> then the govt. should rethink it's implementation of foreign policy. It's been a bit
> on the poor side in the last 30 or so odd years. OK, we can argue that it's been
> pretty poor longer than that, but lets keep it easy and keep it at that.
>
> On the flip side, I think that the US has done good for peoples the world over (we can
> discuss this further if y'all want). But, since we are so addicted to petrochemicals the US
> tends to think in terms of business and economic interests before it begins to even
> contemplate the misery that those business and economic interests have on the rest
> of humanity.
>
The US preferred those two nations duking it out with each other to either of them
turning its attention elsewhere in the region (as subsequently happened with Iraq).
>
> Kind regards,
> Casey
>
> ps. I think I suffer from ADHD so my posts may seem all over the place. My apologies.
> And, yes, I'm serious! cheesy
>
> ----
> This message was posted by Casey to the Virus 2002 board on Church of Virus BBS.
> <http://virus.lucifer.com/bbs/index.php?board=51;action=display;threadid=25860>
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