Quote:
Originally Posted by Dagney
(Don't crap in the living room of the family you're visiting so to speak - even if they don't want you there to begin with).
|
And just how much do you suppose any of the Iraqis who weren't living in Tikrit wanted to keep Saddam around? Any likelihood they could have made the Hussein al-Tikriti dynasty go away without our coming in? "To begin with" is hardly the right way to put it. Some firefights aside, didn't Saddam's army pretty much decide it didn't want to die for Saddam or his sons?
Remember that dog and pony show of an election shortly before the invasion that lifted the Saddamite yoke? One hundred percent turnout and one hundred percent of the vote, for dear old Saddam, running unopposed, and ballots vetted by government agents -- not remotely a secret ballot. Yeah, the country knew this was an act of political masturbation. It made Saddam feel good, but it accomplished precisely nothing other.
No, their previous situation was one without hope of change. Their present situation is simply full of the seeds of change. They'll be better off about the time they actually decide they should have a democracy -- but it may be that we still have several tens of thousands of hardcore fascists to kill first.