Yo, Harris, Wass'up?

I like your new site:

http://www.headhitkeyboard.com/

When are you going to let me join, anyway?

Bush vs. Saddam addendum

Actually, considering how bad things are over there right now, the fact that Bush is only killing people at twice the rate of Saddam does a lot to show how bad Saddam really was, and that is certainly some justification for trying to clean things up over there, even if we have been fairly incompetent in carrying through with that. However, I think there are a lot of other places in the world that are just as bad as Iraq was, N. Korea and Uganda just to name a few, so I still think the main reason we invaded Iraq was for oil, not for humanitarian reasons. Also, I think it's partly due to incompetence that we've messed things up so much over in Iraq, it's also due to neglect (concentrating on getting the oil wells and refineries operational rather than on security and services, and on installing a government that is favorable to the U.S. rather than one favored by the Iraqi people).

Bush vs. Saddam

I've read in various places that Saddam killed 300,000 during his 20 years in power, and Bush has killed only 100,000, but in only 3 years. That means Bush is killing Iraqis at more than twice the rate Saddam is.

Now there are those who might argue that Bush isn't responsible for those deaths, that it's the insurgents who are responsible for them, but Bush is responsible for removing the original government from power, disbanding the original armies and police force of the country and taking about 2 years to replace the police force. He is responsible for putting more of an effort into getting the oil wells pumping and refineries working than he has in getting food, water and electricity to the people, and he is responsible for awarding almost all of the rebuilding contracts to foreign companies so that all of the rebuilding money stays out of Iraq and Iraqi companies are forced to only do contract work for a pittance of what the foreign companies are making. Desperate people will do desperate things.

And you can't just throw up your arms and say "those crazy Iraqis are just doing it to themselves". Think about it. What would happen if, say, China, were to take over our country on the pretext that there's too much sex and drugs and crime in this country, and that democracy is too wasteful and the people don't know enough about who they're voting for to be able to elect good leaders. Let's say China said their occupation was only temporary until all of the corruption in the U.S. was cleaned up, but in the meantime, people were imprisoned without due process and tortured, and families had no idea when, if ever, they would see their loved ones again. Companies were put out of business, people were put out of work, our natural resources were raped clean, and our water and electricity were only on for a few hours of the day.

The same things would happen here that are happening in Iraq. There would be some people who just try to get by as best they can, some who would try to work with the Chinese to stabilize the country as soon as possible hoping that the Chinese would then leave, and there would be those who would rebel against the Chinese; and those who rebelled against the Chinese would consider those who tried to work with them as traitors and they would try to kill them.

There are also those who might say that Saddam killed his own people, whereas Bush is only killing other countries people, but they're still people, so I guess I just don't see the distinction.