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Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Post Saddam Iraq

Hat Tip to The Left End of the Dial for leading us to this succinct summary of how wonderful it is in Iraq now that we have spent 223 billion dollars (and counting), maimed tens of thousands of American soldiers, killed tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens and over 2,000 young American men and women.

Flogging the Simian @ WeBlog.ro: At least we got rid of Saddam: Maybe it's time for a chart:

Iraq Under SaddamIraq Today
Torture?YesYes
Illegal detentions?YesYes
Ba'athist thugs in power?YesYes
Rigged elections?YesYes
Censorship of media?YesYes
Use of chemical weapons against civilians?YesNo*
Functioning economy?YesNo
Religious fundamentalism including sha'ria law?NoYes
Repression of women's rights?NoYes
Functioning basic services like water, electricity?YesNo
Exporting oil to earn revenue?YesSomewhat
Engaged in war with neighboring states?YesNo
Home base for terrorism and Al-Qaeda?NoYes
Children dying of malnutrition and dehydration?YesYes
Americans and British being killed?NoYes

Well it looks like except for engaging in a war with its neighbors, the new Iraqi government is actually worse than under Saddam. Whoever wanted that to happen?

I put an asterisk next to "NO" for the current government using chemical weapons against civilians. As far as I know only the American military has done that in Iraq.

While everyone hopes that next month or next year or in the next decade that things are better under non-Saddam rule, so far it's hard to see how anything's improved whatsoever for the Iraq people.

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