Is Saddam Hussein insane? Claims victory 10 years after Gulf War.

M

MrBigglesworth

New member
http://www.msnbc.com/news/516961.asp

What is up with this guy? How can he claim victory after having his army's @$$ handed to him?

He and his aides say that Kuwait got what they deserved with the Iraqi invasion and that the United States is the protector of Satan himself.

Do you think that with this arrogant attitude that Saddam could cause another major problem in the future? Or is he just a rambling madman?

My version of an Iraqi victory would be an overcoming of U.S. and Allied troops and a successful takeover of Kuwait and becoming prosperous, yet the nation is in economical ruin and citizens are still dying every day due to sanctions. Victory???
 
Yes, he's nuts...

I think he is suffering from serious mental dilusion... :rolleyes:


http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/1/15/212602.shtml
Saddam Plans Aid for U.S. Poor
NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2001
BAGHDAD, Iraq (UPI) – His own citizens are living in squalor, but Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein announced Monday that he planned to offer $95 million in "humanitarian" assistance to the United States, according to the official Iraqi News Agency.
The agency said the decision was adopted during a Cabinet meeting led by the dictator. It said the Cabinet decided to allocate the money to U.S. citizens with incomes under the poverty line.

It said the number of poor in the United States were estimated at 30 million, mostly black citizens who "live on garbage."

The allocated amount was to be distributed under the supervision of an Iraqi committee to be formed for this purpose.


Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
Click to expand...
 
Arabs are prone to saber-rattling to save face in front of their people. It led to the Egyptians getting pasted on a few occasions by the Israelis...

BTW, I worked with many Somolians at my PT job and they held SH in admiration "he is a strong man willing to stand up for his beliefs." Despite the fact that they came willingly to the US and love it here (except for the cold in Mpls) they admire a strong leader...
 
The bull we were fed by the elder Bush administration was that we had a great victory and liberated Kuwait. Well that's true and maybe that's the only thing we could have done without po ing our Arab "allies". The bottom line is that from our national self-interest the only thing that matters in the Middle-East is oil and the ability ot keep it flowing for our SUV's.

Saddam is alive, has his army intact and, some claim, trying to rebuild weapons of mass destruction. We won a battle, but the war goes on. We should have gone to Bagdad and killed Saddam. I predict that in the long run such an action will have saved lives. US Grant and our leaders in WW2 knew that to truly win a war you must totally destroy the enemy's will and ability to fight.
 
The bottom line is that from our national self-interest the only thing that matters in the Middle-East is oil and the ability ot keep it flowing for our SUV's.

. . . and our houses and our businesses and our entire economy. Oil is important whether we want to admit it or not. Perhaps Bush will consider drilling in AK, so we can avoid this mess in the future.
 
What do you mean "trying to rebuild weapons of mass destruction"? You mean we found them all? Look, I have to agree with Ron. He's still in power, he still has a military, the Iraqis still support him. The a** we handed to him consisted of conscripts and 50's/60's handoffs from Russia. And I also believe that sooner or later: he will succeed in getting a nasty bio weapon released into someplace like New York or D.C., the Soviets or Chinese will start openly selling him decent military hardware, he will tap into Iraqi national sentiment to whip up another big a** army, et. cet. Just call me paranaoid. What happens if the ball does go up again? The military can barely afford peacekeeping missions in the Balkans (which Bush said he supported during his debates with Gore), much less send the size force over there that made a ground war relativly free of American casualties. If any world politics/military strategy folks can tell me I'm way out in left field I would welcome it.
 
Hey RON...

This is very important.

Where were you and what were you doing 10 years ago?



[Edited by Thumper on 01-18-2001 at 02:05 PM]
 
Never mind JWR...

We were give a mission: Get Iraq out of Kuwait. That was the mission. I suppose because we left the country standing we failed.

Hey, all you WWII vets...I was recently in Germany. They still call themselves Germans. Sorry to hear that you guys lost in the 40s...

Korea still seems to be on my map also...oh look! China!
And there's England, and Mexico, and Italy, and Japan...

Have we EVER won a war?

Man, we suck...

[Edited by Thumper on 01-18-2001 at 02:06 PM]
 
Thumper, please check your e-mail.

The scuffle in Iraq was more political than any war we've ever been in. The United States, and to a lesser extent the Coaltion Forces, spent the entire conflict in a delicate balancing act involving the always-Machiavellian politics of the Middle East.

Sometimes, late at night, I'm with the guys who wish we had gone on to Baghdad and "did the job right", the rest of the time I figure that if the United States had openly toppled a Middle Eastern leader, or worse -- executed him, we'd be in a worse pickle than we're in now.

We ran his forces out of Kuwait with their tails between their legs, and we did it with minimal casualties to American forces.

A miniscule victory, to be sure, but still a wictory.

LawDog
 
Iraq lost the battle for Kuwait, but the years that followed where our pitiful government tried to exert control over Iraq was a dismal failure.

Hussein is still in power, the UN inspectors are no where to be seen, they have weapons of mass destruction and some countries have lightened the sanctions placed on them. They did kick us out of their country.

UNITED STATES: We are coming to inspect for WMD.
IRAQ: No.
UNITED STATES: We're coming or else.
IRAQ: Or else what?
UNITED STATES: Um er, uh...
 
I Don't know what to say here...

Lawdog, first time I disagree with you, as I recall, but...

I apologize that we didn't "do the job right." We did our best.

Our President and Congress asked us to boot a large standing army out of a small middle eastern country.

We mopped the floor up with them the best we could. They left. They tried to take their equipment back with them but we fought through their best in order to cut them off from Baghdad. Then we strewed them all over the desert.

We obliterated the fourth largest standing army in the world with a minimum of casualties.

I quote Lt. General Tom Kelly:

"Iraq went from the fourth-largest army in the world to the second-largest army in Iraq in 100 hours."

In June 1991 the U.S. estimated that more than 100,000 Iraqi soldiers died, 300,000 were wounded, 150,000 deserted, and 60,000 were taken prisoner.

Many human rights groups claimed a much higher number of Iraqi killed in action.

The United States suffered 148 killed in action, 458 wounded, and 121 killed in nonhostile actions.

A "miniscule victory" indeed.

Sir, I respectfully ask you to rethink your words.
 
Hey, all you WWII vets...I was recently in Germany. They still call themselves Germans. Sorry to hear that you guys lost in the 40s...

Korea still seems to be on my map also...oh look! China!
And there's England, and Mexico, and Italy, and Japan...

Have we EVER won a war?

Man, we suck...
Click to expand...

We're called the US not England, does that count ;)
 
Evidently not, Chris...

After all...we left King George in power. Those darn colonials should have gone to London and "[done] the job right."
 
Easy there, Thump

The job was done right, that is, according to orders and successfully. What I'm reading in this thread doesn't seem to be intended as an attack on any military personnel, on the ground or calling the shots. The question is whether the right job was directed to be done, or whether political considerations kept that from happening.

The Germans still call themselves "Germans," but how many Nazis are left? You all beat the Iraqi army, but did we beat Saddam? Did we acheive a strategic victory? I think not, and I think we'll hear more from Saddam. He's doing whatever he pleases in Iraq to prepare to strike back, and he needn't be in any hurry. As his life and his political power come to an end, he will be a man with nothing to lose and everything to gain by striking at the U.S.

Thumper, thanks for your service to your country.

Regards to all.
 
I understand that Hussein is still a threat and I apologize for seeming a bit angry. This is obviously something I feel strongly about.

I'm sensitive to the commonly held belief that what went on over there doesn't really count because it was "too easy." The reason things went well was because we had a highly motivated, well-equipped, and well led group of individuals with one goal. We accomplished that goal. I take issue with anyone that implies that we weren't victorious in every way.

I understand that no one would intentionally speak poorly of the good folks that accomplished this mission.

I hate to bring this to an emotional level, but I don't think the families of those who died would appreciate their loved ones' sacrifice being denigrated by describing their cause with words like "miniscule."

I'm sorry if I offended anyone here. I consider you all to be friends. I am offended personally, however, by some of the things that have been said here.
 
To answer the original question ...

... Yes, Saddam Hussein is insane.
As is any Iraqi foolish enough to disagree with him.
 
Another aspect to our victory there...

It appears that Saddam was considering invading Saudi Arabia, as well. We deterred that.

I think the most important thing is that we proved our "will" to defend our interests. As a local radio talk show host once stated, "if a nation does not defend its national interests, it will soon have no interests to defend". I'm worried we were headed down that path. But our showing in the Gulf reversed that trend.

I think the strategic victory was that we demonstrated that we are capable of defending our interests. And we showed our allies that there is value to being allied with the USA. I have heard that our esteem in the eyes of the nations of the world (and particularly in the eyes of Japan) was raised significantly when they saw how well our military and our weaponry functioned.
 
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