the norwegian newspaper vg, reports: iraqi general nizar al-khazraji was the man behind the butchering of 180,000 iraqi kurds in 1988. he was one of saddam's faithful generals.
he later had to flee iraq and is living on a secret address in denmark.
he is under investigation by the danish police.. ---------------------------------------------------.
Jan,
Quite right. I should have been more explicit. I was referring to a specific sub-group of criticism that hypocritically condemns the U.S. while accepting its help yet pretending not to want its help. I am not talking about the more general types of criticisms from countries that are U.S. allies. After all, I'm engaging in that form of criticism, so I clearly think that is valid!
the norwegian newspaper vg, reports: iraqi general nizar al-khazraji was the man behind the butchering of 180,000 iraqi kurds in 1988. he was one of saddam's faithful generals.
he later had to flee iraq and is living on a secret address in denmark.
he is under investigation by the danish police.. ---------------------------------------------------.
IW,
We may be talking at cross-purposes here. There are two different types of countries being discussed here:
1. The kind you refer to, the ones who ask for America's help and then sullenly complain about us endlessly. That is not good.
2. The kind I refer to, the ones who want to be left alone, but America meddles anyway, causing suffering to their people. That is not good.
the norwegian newspaper vg, reports: iraqi general nizar al-khazraji was the man behind the butchering of 180,000 iraqi kurds in 1988. he was one of saddam's faithful generals.
he later had to flee iraq and is living on a secret address in denmark.
he is under investigation by the danish police.. ---------------------------------------------------.
pat,
Maybe I'll be reading foreign news instead of just the US news and gain a better perspective.An excellent thing to do, IMO. It's eye-opening how misled we are by the U.S. media. Only by reading all sides can we begin to get a true picture of reality.
the norwegian newspaper vg, reports: iraqi general nizar al-khazraji was the man behind the butchering of 180,000 iraqi kurds in 1988. he was one of saddam's faithful generals.
he later had to flee iraq and is living on a secret address in denmark.
he is under investigation by the danish police.. ---------------------------------------------------.
The U.S. Government is no better or worse than any other bureaucratic democracy in Europe or elsewhere.
The U.S. has more power, and thus more corruption. There aren't too m any democracies in Europe that have prevented democractic rule in neighboring countries while propping up dictators who oppress their people. Yet that is precisely what the U.S. has done in some Latin American countries, while lying to the American people about what they were doing and why.
It's a deep issue, and the corruption runs deep. The irony, of course, is that this corruption is designed for a pragmatic reason: to uphold America's interests. Hard to argue with that, except that this can lead to situations where America acts to keep people in other countries under ruthless regimes, all because that ruler of the country will fight Communism or something else that America thinks is in its best interests. So people living in those countries rightly resent the political meddling by America that keeps them suffering under a brutal rule.
So when American leaders say they are going to "fight terrorism," some people wonder when they will stop supporting terrorism in other regimes that happen to be America's "friends." That is hypocrisy.
the norwegian newspaper vg, reports: iraqi general nizar al-khazraji was the man behind the butchering of 180,000 iraqi kurds in 1988. he was one of saddam's faithful generals.
he later had to flee iraq and is living on a secret address in denmark.
he is under investigation by the danish police.. ---------------------------------------------------.
Thanks, Xena. I'm sure that if we ever met in real life, you'd like me, and you'd laugh at my humor, just as I would laugh at yours and like you.
the norwegian newspaper vg, reports: iraqi general nizar al-khazraji was the man behind the butchering of 180,000 iraqi kurds in 1988. he was one of saddam's faithful generals.
he later had to flee iraq and is living on a secret address in denmark.
he is under investigation by the danish police.. ---------------------------------------------------.
Thank you, Pat. I am actually a reasonable, friendly person with a great sense of humor and a self-deprecating nature. I'm also an idealist. What tends to show on this forum is my idealism, not my easy-goingness. People probably think I'm this wound-up, angry person with a chip on my shoulder. Just the opposite, really, but I use this forum and these discussions to blow off steam in this subject.
the norwegian newspaper vg, reports: iraqi general nizar al-khazraji was the man behind the butchering of 180,000 iraqi kurds in 1988. he was one of saddam's faithful generals.
he later had to flee iraq and is living on a secret address in denmark.
he is under investigation by the danish police.. ---------------------------------------------------.
That was very well said, expatbrit. For one thing, America alone would not have won WWII, so that ignorant argument used at times is just ignorance. But it's a lot easier to argue if you are ignorant of the facts!
But my primary objection to that argument is that it doesn't excuse later wrongdoing by America. America is a great country, but if our leaders do wrong, why is it wrong to point it out? And even if we had been single-handedly responsible for saving the world 50 years ago (and we weren't), it wouldn't mean we could do no wrong now. America does some wonderful, generous things, and they get lots of airtime on our media. America also does some thorougly corrupt, brutal, criminal things, which get almost no airtime on our media, so most Americans remain ignorant of these bad things. It isn't wrong to criticize a country when it does wrong. It is the duty of every citizen to point it out when it happens -- that's part of our constitutional tradition and the very means by which our country was founded in the first place.
Most Americans seem too fat and happy to remember that, and are only too willing to swallow whatever propaganda comes down the pike. 1984, indeed. It didn't only happen in totalitarian countries...
the norwegian newspaper vg, reports: iraqi general nizar al-khazraji was the man behind the butchering of 180,000 iraqi kurds in 1988. he was one of saddam's faithful generals.
he later had to flee iraq and is living on a secret address in denmark.
he is under investigation by the danish police.. ---------------------------------------------------.
patio
Hello Norm and Seeker,Oh, I've said many positive things, but one tends to complain about the negative rather than extol the positive. But thank you for being a friend and asking me about it instead of just attacking me. Let me explain my position:I don't comprehend your apparent complete negativism towards America. I don't recall a positive thing ever said about the US.
A few weeks back, I pointed out my political position in detail. Basically, I believe any sufficiently large organization eventually gets corrupted. We certainly saw it in the WTS. And now we see it in the U.S. But I'm talking about the leaders, not the American people who I feel are quite open-hearted, generous, and freedom-loving. Well, some of them, anyway. No, my complaint is against the goverment, who I feel is hypocritical, deceptive, and anti-American. Republicans and Democrats are busy selling us out to corporate interests, lying to us repeatedly, using propaganda against us to keep us busy while they grab ever more power, and so on.
Basically, I am railing against them precisely the way the early colonists railed against British rule. I am a constitutionalist. I appreciate the U.S. Constitution strongly. I want my fellow Americans to appreciate it too, so I point it out when our leaders trample on the Constitution. The Attorney General of the U.S. right now is an extremely dangerous man, for he shows no respect for our rights. The President seems almost eager to be "fighting a war" that is no more a war than the war on drugs (in which people get killed and the army gets used, so just because U.S. armed forces die, it doesn't automatically make it a real, constitutional, Congress-declared war).
I love Americans. I despise anyone who tramples on the Constitution. I believe power corrupts. I point it out. I hope that makes more sense, and why I have been saying the things I have. I'm upset, just as I was upset when I learned of the corruption of the WTS and the GB. But I care about individual JWs, who have no power, just as I care about individual Americans, who have no power.
i forget what his name is.
he's the gay guy, who likes to dress in drag and thinks he transmigated to become jesus himself.
his posts are just entertaining, and i need a laugh right now........ his dementia was very amusing, but now i'm wondering if he's gonna transmigrate as a troll.. who is this dude?
butalbee,
Larsguy (Gary) has been around from time to time. I think I saw one of his chronology just today, in fact, lemme see.....yeah, here it is:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=21611&site=3
And no, this is not Fred Hall.
the norwegian newspaper vg, reports: iraqi general nizar al-khazraji was the man behind the butchering of 180,000 iraqi kurds in 1988. he was one of saddam's faithful generals.
he later had to flee iraq and is living on a secret address in denmark.
he is under investigation by the danish police.. ---------------------------------------------------.
Nothing has changed in America. Well, let me adjust that. Now that terrorism has struck on American soil for at least the third time in history -- no, wait, let me adjust that, for the Americans themselves used terrorism against the British in the 18th-century. OK, let me start over:
Nothing has changed in the American government. The rulers of this country will continue to act hypocritically whenever it suits them. They will continue to undermine whatever countries and rulers they want, even ones popular with their own people, if it suits them. They will continue to partner with terrorists if it suits them. They will continue to prop up butcherous regimes if it suits them.
What has changed is the average American's view. They have been so shocked by the events of 9/11, they seem to think a new era in human history has arrived. The rest of the world is moving on, having been used to terrorism for many years now, and Americans are just late to the party. Meanwhile, the government leaders are the same duplicitious, lying hypocrites they have ever been.
