From: Karen Rand Smigrodzki (karen@smigrodzki.org)
Date: Thu Apr 10 2003 - 23:27:15 MDT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" <sentience@pobox.com>
> And now, having earned goodwill, watch as the Bush administration blows it
> all on a series of sheerly stupid and arrogant moves that turn every Iraqi
> against us and permanently sours the whole Middle East on democracy and
> America.
^^^^^^^^^Yes, I agree that this will happen, but I don't think it will all
be Bush's fault. I haven't seen (and I wasn't on the list for several days,
so possibly I missed it) anyone mention that the liberation in Iraq extends
almost wholly to the *men* of Iraq and not it's women. My point is that
Islam does not allow for real liberty or for real democracy. America has
gotten itself, rightly or misguidedly, into a real quagmire. Getting out of
Iraq and leaving it in a better socio-political climate than it was under
Hussein is not going to be easy.
I want also to point out that the Shiite cleric Khoei who was murdered
by Iraqi's, and whom the USA backed (according to the news), was not a
friend to the USA. The USA has a history of supporting and empowering new
leadership (e.g. Qadhdhafi of Libya) over their predecessors and having
these new leaders turn out to be very poor choices. I am afraid that the USA
is going to make such a mistake again in Iraq. The USA support of Khoei is
fueling my fears.
I saw or read in the news a few days ago that Khoei supported the USA.
That is just not true. Khoei, according to information from the same news
sources, simply told his followers not to interfere. However, this is in
keeping with very strict Muslim tradition. He would not support the USA by
asking his followers to kill other Muslims; most especially not to fight on
the side of the satanic USA. I believe, based on my many years of
experience with the Muslim community, that if Khoei had been in power in
place of Hussein, then we would find that he was as anywhere from as open
and loving as Ayatollah Khamenei to as sweet and charitable as Bin Laden.
-karen
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