Abbas,
After all it is your new homeland, and that is the culture you were-and still are- desperately trying to be part of.
what are you talking about?
what are you talking about?
Was wondering the same thing!
Abbas,
It's not about being an "occupying" force. It's about being a military that just kicked ass and toppled a rotten dictatorship from seven-thousand miles away in 21 days (and without the 4th ID coming down through Turkey). They were PROUD to be victorious, as they should be.
Face it, dude, the vaunted Iraqi military got reamed. Even the Special, Really-Special, Super-Duper Special Republican Guards turned out to be poor soldiers. Why? They got really good at marching in military parades for Saddam, but never really prepared for a war against a foe with the lethality that the US can bring to the table.
Listen, can you imagine what would have happened if the Iraqi military had won? If the Iraqi military had in fact defeated the American military, do you think that the Iraqis would have been content with the two instances you cite here? Can you imagine all the AK-dancing there would have been? Every last war trophy, down to an empty M-16 magazine, would have been held aloft and eventually displayed in an enormous museum for all of the Arab world to tramp through for the next few centuries. But it's a fantasy, Abbas, just another Arab fantasy.
Well, are you coming to the States or not?
*
@KKK: I was talking about "aside from the irresponsible arrogance of US troops" and you being mesmerized with the US, don't act as a fool.
there is a large difference between pride and arrogance- try talking to an american soldier in baghdad, and you'll get exactly what is meant here.
Whoa.. is America a crumbling empire or what?
They think their navy are heros because they kill a few lightly armed Somalian pirates.
And Jeffrey here is proud that his army (the best equiped on earth) defeated a much smaller and inferior army with rusting equipment (from years of sanctions).
I might refrain from laughing at your misplaced pride when your army defeats an enemy with access to the same weapons and technology that it has.
My name is not KKK, and im not mesmerized by the fucking US, look i know you dont like me, but please stop being annoyingly stupid at every comment.
Touta,
Okay, let's just say we're proud AND arrogant. Works for me.
Heh.
Again, try this little thought experiment with me. Imagine if the Iraqi military had defeated the American forces. Are you really sure you wan to talk about arrogance? The Iraqis would have strutted around and shoved that into the faces of their "Arab brothers" for the next millennium.
*
Abbas,
Not mesmerized by the US? Hold it, does that mean you're NOT coming to the US? I was really looking forward to drinking with ya.
*
I'll continue this argument in a month or two- but basically, you're wrong. :D
Touta,
I'll continue this argument in a month or two- but basically, you're wrong.
It's possible, but unlikely.
*smirk*
Okay, I know you have to concentrate on exams, so let me go back to my workshop and fine-tune my KANTIAN ARGUMENT-DESTROYING DIALECTICAL MACHINE. You probably won't have much of a chance to prevail once I wheel that baby out.
*
Wasn't it Saddam who made some kind of monument out of Iranian military helmuts? Tacky, very tacky.
Look, I know that we haven't always behaved in a very sensitive way, but I think that you will find that is not uncommon when people are put in that kind of position.
Have you always behaved appropriately, Abbas?
The President just made a joke over the weekend about Air Force one's little sortie over NYC. My guess is there were a number of people who were not amused.
The flag thing and this picture are not as critical, in my book, as making sure our troops behave properly in other matters.
"when America blatantly behaved as a true occupying force on a conscious, high-exposure level. The first is when the US soldier draped his country's flag over Saddam's statue, this is the second one."
makes a proud ba3thi angry enough to blow up a karrada market, dammit.
*mutters to self*
Knew it! He's trying to impress a girl.
er...Abbas, I mean, not you Mojo. 
i swear everybody is high. lynette, what the blazing allahs are you talking about? and mojo still thinks everything is about saddam and ba3th.
Not allowed to get high at work, Abbas.
Kinki?
Hmmm...
Jeffrey,
kantian? bring it on, i got Immanuel Kant memorized. While you're there, perhaps we could even discuss Thomas Aquinas.
fine fine, i'll admit it, i just like diagreeing with you at every possible occasion. I can't wait to have my english argumentative/persuasive writing exam now! 
Touta,
I've always liked your fighting spirit. Listen, I'm going to tell you something personal. I've always preferred Schopenhauer to Kant. Kant is like a spinster with nine cats. Schopenhauer, on the other hand, really knew how to cut through the bullshit. Listen to Artur (from "Vanity of Human Existence"):
That human life must be some kind of mistake is sufficiently proved by the simple observation that man is a compound of needs which are hard to satisfy; that their satisfaction achieves nothing but a painless condition in which he is only given over to boredom; and that boredom is a direct proof that existence is in itself valueless, for boredom is nothing other than the sensation of the emptiness of existence.
Sing it, brother!
*
We didn't get taught much about atheistic philosphers. :S
Whats more schopenhauer was a closed minded macho man.
Figures you like him.
what's more i believe he had an affair with a 9 year old girl or something? O_o.
I'm sticking to good old Kant and Nietzche.
"man is a compound of needs which are hard to satisfy"
You never see this problem with females...mainly because we tend to be higher on the IQ level, and work to satisfy our needs, rather than demand them off others.
Touta,
You never see this problem with females...mainly because we tend to be higher on the IQ level, and work to satisfy our needs, rather than demand them off others.
*grinning*
Pass. As a gentleman, I must remain silent and let others respond before I do.
*
*checks self into psychiatrist ward*
Touta,
I take it that referring to myself as a "gentleman" has driven you insane. What? Why? Can't I have dreams just like the next guy? Must I always play the lowly villain? Must I always wear the black hat and attract people's intense hate as I move from shadow to shadow on the big screen, my eyes slit, gritted teeth reflecting the moonlight? Do I always have to strangle the innocent, gut the wannabe heroes, slice the throats of the good guys?
Why can't I play the debonair gentleman?
It's a union thing?!
Oh, okay.
*pulls dagger out and studies its razor-sharp edge*
*
and mojo still thinks everything is about saddam and ba3th.
Hmm...from what I read, everything IS about the Ba3th right now. The Badrists, the Sadrists, and the Kurds are unwilling to allow Ba3thists into the government *as Ba3thists*. And certain Iraqi parties consider that to be something to disagree about.
did i die and go to hell? wtf is this comment section.
someone should stab a stake thru the heart of the rummy beast to guarantee he will never come back.
Sheeeeee's baaaack!
Annie?
Thought you retired. :D
A dagger? come on, where's the tommy guns and revolvers?
oh, and as for the baathists...i think for Democracy (or the pretence of it anyway) we should allow every spectrum to stand for vote.
Its not like they're going to gain much support anyway...today's era is heil hakim.
Abbas,
I have followed your blog for years and this is the strangest comment string I have ever seen.
mike | 05.19.09 - 5:34 pm | #
I am still spinning.
Who would have imagined that this picture would generate such weird and random comments?
What the hell is going on?
Rumsfield is an idiot that belongs in the trashbin of history along with Bush the father (and others whose names I shall not mention because it would just make this comment section even weirder than it already is).
Commenting by HaloScan
