Why can't Americans figure out that Iraq was a developed country?

[EstimatedProphet]

This is half the problem we have in getting people to realize how badly the Iraq war has gone. The average American thinks Iraq looks like something out of Lawrence of Arabia, with everyone living in tents! If we had to do without running water, sewsrage, and electricity here for 3 years, we would have long ago taken to the streets! Yet Americans think it is no big deal for the Iraqis.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. With WAS being the key word

[EstimatedProphet]

5. Exactly. I said 'was' for a reason.

[JuniperLea]

2. Must.... keep... fairy tale.... alive!

Those things are on a long list of myths that must be believed by the RightWingNuts or they will be forced to realize it was all for money/oil and they have been led down the proverbial garden path.

Eating crow is not their strong suit.


Better... to... keep... the... fairy tale... alive!

[robbedvoter]

3. They even had elections! (Fixed, like ours, but so they are now too)

Americans tend to think that the rest of the world is in the stone age - or barely populated by humans...

[Surya Gayatri]

4. And "was" (read 'used to be')

is the operative word. In the space of 3 years it's been thrust back 3 centuries. Americans are woefully ignorant even of the two countries on their northern & southern& borders, let alone 'one of them Ayrab camel jockey places over there'. Appalling & deadly ignorance and indifference. SG

[no_hypocrisy]

6. I didn't have to figure it out. Before our invasion, corporate media

showed footage of Iraq's cosmopolitan society in some of its cities. They appeared to be not only current, but progressive, especially in public education and science. We've taken away most of that from their citizens. Even if the monies were appropriately applied to rebuilding Iraq, we can never return their innocence and complete standard of living. We broke a country.

[EstimatedProphet]

7. Yes. And the average American doesn't see a problem with that

because after all, they all live in tents and ride camels anyway.

[samhsarah]

8. the average american thinks EVERYONE in the middle east lives in tents

ask an average american to point to iraq on a map. see what happens. do you really expect them to know about how they live(d)? to the average american they are ay-rab turrists and that's all they need to know.

[EstimatedProphet]

9. Expect? Yes, I expect that.

This country used to have the highest standard of education in the world. We have produced more Nobel Prize winners in science that any other.

Yeah, we ought to be smarter and more informed than that.

[samhsarah]

11. i wasn't disagreeing with you...

just pointing out the sad reality that the average American thinks the world revolves around the U.S.A. and doesn't see the need to worry their minds with what is going on in the rest of the world. shit, half the people in this country don't even know what is going on here. if they did, it might be a different world right now. a better one.

[EstimatedProphet]

16. No, I got that

I brought up that stuff to point out just how ludicrous it is that we're now dominated by people who think that way. What the hell happened to us?

[samhsarah]

26. As far back as I can remember, people have thought this way...

in this country. Maybe it was not as obvious, but I think for a very long time now, Americans have been by whatever means, made to believe that the rest of the world just doesn't matter as much as we do. I don't think it started, nor will it end with 911, Iraq, Afghanistan, and so on. So maybe it's not so much what happened to us, I think it has always been there, just so much more obvious now. there are those of us that try to learn what is going on in the world. But it has always been, for me at least, that I had to make a conscious effort to do so. The information is just not out there in the American mainstream. I think it will only get worse. Dumbing down the masses has really worked well for this Crime Family in particular.

[htuttle]

15. That touches on the racist underpinnings of the "Iraq - 9/11" connection

Many Americans bought the story (spread through corpropaganda outlets) that the invasion of Iraq was 'payback' for 9/11 because they honestly don't see any difference between the 'Ay-rabs' that flew planes into buildings, and the 'Ay-rabs' that lived in Iraq. They were all the same to them. Heck, they even think that 'Ay-rabs' live in Afghanistan and Iran...

The lack of any factual connection between the 19 hijackers and the government of Iraq is irrelevent to this point of view, which is why the belief persists to this day. The not-so-subtle goading from the Bush administration propaganda machine had something to do with it as well, but were it not for the pre-existing racist belief that 'all Ay-rabs are the same', Rove's lies wouldn't have taken hold.

[samhsarah]

exactly.

[samhsarah]

23. self-delete (dupe)

[democrank]

10. How can you say Iraq was

a "developed country" since they didn`t have a McDonald`s?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. Hell, most Americans (USA! USA!) don't know France is a developed

country.

[samhsarah]

13. well they developed Freedom Fries, didn't they?

[FreedomAngel82]

14. Who knows

I'm taking US History now for college and on the second class meeting we started talking about other countries who were already around before the United States and she talked about Iraq briefly and how well advanced they were. They were able to build houses to keep themselves cool and warm in the respective seasons. Iraq was the most progressive area in that region. Women could go to schools, work and I think own businesses too. Plus, there was religious freedom and there were everyone there from Christians to Muslims and they all got along.

[leftchick]

17. Yeah a real backwater....

:eyes:

<snip>

Iraq's society just before the outbreak of the war was undergoing profound and rapid social change that had a definite urban focus. The city has historically played an important economic and political role in the life of Middle Eastern societies, and this was certainly true in the territory that is present-day Iraq. Trade and commerce, handicrafts and small manufactures, and administrative and cultural activities have traditionally been central to the economy and the society, notwithstanding the overwhelming rural character of most of the population. In the modern era, as the country witnessed a growing involvement with the world market and particularly the commercial and administrative sectors, the growth of a few urban centers, notably Baghdad and Basra, has been astounding. The war, however, has altered this pattern of growth remarkably--in the case of Baghdad accelerating it; in the case of Basra shrinking it considerably.

<snip>

As for the elite, the oil boom of the 1970s brought greater diversification of wealth, with some going to those attached to the land, and some to those involved in the regime, commerce, and, increasingly, manufacturing. The working class grew but was largely fragmented. A relatively small number were employed in businesses of ten or more workers, whereas a much larger number were classified as wage workers, including those in the services sector. Between the elite and the working masses was the lower middle class of petty bourgeoisie. This traditional component consisted of the thousands of small handicraft shops, which made up a huge part of the so-called manufacturing sector, and the even more numerous one-man stores. The newer and more rapidly expanding part of this class consisted of professionals and semiprofessionals employed in services and the public sector, including the officer corps, and the thousands of students looking for jobs. This class became particularly significant in the 1980s because former members of it have become the nation's elite. Perhaps the most important aspect of the growth of the public sector was the expansion of educational facilities, with consequent pressures to find white-collar jobs for graduates in the noncommodity sectors.

http://countrystudies.us/iraq/42.htm

[Sam0724]

18. They don't care.

They think there was an Iraqi tie to 9/11, so it doesn't even matter. They don't care, they won't hear it, it's pointless.

[EstimatedProphet]

20. No, we can't let it be pointless

We have to keep talking about this, and all the stupid things going on.

[Sam0724]

21. I do know.

That and the tens of thousands dead and more dying every day. :(

[EstimatedProphet]

22. Yes.

[Ksec]

19. The Iraqis were the most educated in the area

I heard that they had a higher percentage of college grads than we do.

[northofdenali]

25. And probably that higher percentage

could read, balance a checkbook and find Europe on a map, unlike an unacceptably high percentage of U.S. college grads. :(

[Erika]

24. Women had more rights under Saddam

and held important government positions. Iraq was a secular government and did not allow extremism in the religions.

They have lost this stature now. Good going bushbots and Laura.