Majority of Iraqis Miss Saddam Hussein, Blame America

[EEO]

Some satire commenting on the state of Iraq...

Majority of Iraqis Miss Saddam Hussein, Blame America

::SNIP::

In the midst of a war with the Islamic State (ISIS) a large percentage of Iraqis said they missed their deposed and executed dictator Saddam Hussein, according to poll results released today. Over 80% of Iraq's population pined for the years of internal stability Saddam Hussein maintained by ruthlessly cracking down on political dissenters and sectarian religious conflicts.

::SNIP::

&

::SNIP::

"Saddam Hussein was a dictator who checked Iran's influence in the region and made sure extremist groups like al-Qaed could not set up shop in Iraq. So American propaganda that painted Saddam as a religious zealot patiently sitting on nukes was pretty stupid," stated Hashim Boutros.

::SNIP::

Source: The Nil Admirari

[Raster]

1. Let Freedom Reign!

http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/elections/freedomessay/

[EEO]

2. Ugh.

That is horrible. Delusional asses.

[Cosmocat]

3. funny and sad

at the same time.

THIS his how far gone this country is, the republicans have come to BELIEVE their bullshit, and the people of the country just go along with it ...

[craigmatic]

4. The war with ISIS will either make Iraq as a country or break it. I doubt the kurds and Shias miss

him that much.

[EEO]

5. He was good for our interests in the region.

But we had the man who stole the last presidential election with help from the Supreme Court, and Dick Cheney beating the drums for a war that has definitely hurt our interests in the Middle East, as well as globally.

[Igel]

6. The numbers say otherwise.

What, perhaps 30% Sunni? Assuming you trust that stat. (It's a bit off, but it's hard to get a reliable count. Sunnis thought of themselves as a clear majority of the population under Saddam.)

80% of the population "miss" Saddam. Assuming you trust the poll.

That means of the remaining population, Kurds and Shi'ites, around 50% valued the stability under his reign.

"I doubt X miss him that much" I'd quantify as being 20% or less.

[Igel]

7. They have to blame somebody.

To blame themselves would entail dishonoring themselves.

Nothing was done to prepare them for self-rule; the dictator would have found such preparation counter-productive, since to the extent the population doesn't need him is the extent to which he's utterly and obviously dispensable.

And, in keeping with Saddam's admiration for Stalin and in keeping with long-standing Ottoman tradition, Saddam did things to intentionally fracture and fragment society so that it would be unified only in the face of outside threat and only be able to unite behind him. Thus increasing the extent to which he was utterly and obviously indispensable.

It also has to be said that some societies rank stability above freedom. The two are at odds with each other. China and Russia, polls show, both value stability and safety above political and social freedoms by a wide margin. I suspect Arab cultures are likely to be the same.

The way to square the circle wrt freedom and stability is to have a large degree of freedom but a high degree of individual self-control and internalization of societal norms. Franklin's reported to have said that we have a democracy, but that demands a virtuous society. The school district I live in faced this: One subculture did not have highly internalized norms while the dominant one of long-standing had. As the demographics changed, and the amount of freedom students enjoyed stayed the same--with a different expression of that freedom--the schools lost stability. To restore the stability required for classroom-style education, freedoms were sharply curtailed. The point is that freedoms were curtailed to return to the behavioral norms that were prevalent a decade before. (They haven't reached that point yet and may not, since the rule system is becoming nearly dictatorial and at some point we say, 'Enough!' Now, instead of perhaps 1-2 fights a month, they have nearly one fight per day. Referral rates are way up, suspensions are up, and they've gone from having nearly a 90% pass rate on all their state tests to 68%.)

When social trust breaks down, freedom need to be replaced by stability. Nobody behaves around those they consider enemies and lesser people; nobody trusts those they consider enemies and lesser people to properly use the freedoms they have. (Note that measures of of social trust in the US have plummeted in the last 40 years, and that everybody seems to have a vested interest in overgrazing in that particular commons.)

[Reter]

8. I wish we could dig him up and put him back in power

Sadly, some countries need dictators.

[workinclasszero]

9. And yet the neocon MIC suckers in both parties

are screaming for another boots on the ground invasion to save poor Iraq once again!

How many fucking times do we have to send poor american kids to the shithole middle east to die horrible deaths in defense of people who will hate their fucking guts for it???

Not to mention the billions and billions and billions of dollars it costs! We can't afford social security, Medicaid, food assistance, infrastructure repair or improvements, roads going to hell, bridges going to hell, but.....

FUCK YES TRILLIONS FOR WAR ANYTIME ANYWHERE!!!!! GOD BLESS AMERIKA!!!1!!11!@!!!! LETS ROLL!!!!!1111@@!!!

[okaawhatever]

10. Folks this is a comic website, like The Onion or Borowitz. nt

[EEO]

11. It clearly notes the source at satire near the top of the thread.

[okaawhatever]

12. Yes, I'm just pointing it out again as some seem to be taking it seriously. nt