# Fear and Loathing In Bagdad **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 17, 2004, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938 "2004-01-17T16:12:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938/101 "2004-01-21T18:52:01Z")
Now they are saying it may take a few years to find the WMD. :rolleyes: [http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/01/21/sprj.nirq.main/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/01/21/sprj.nirq.main/index.html) More horshit for the suckers, bolding mine. > [@](#): > > Kay presented a preliminary report to the House Intelligence Committee in October that said the group **found no weapons of mass destruction** , but did uncover evidence that Saddam’s regime planned to manufacture them. > > The Bush administration said last year that the Iraqi threat of weapons of mass destruction was a main reason for its decision to launch a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March. > > In his State of the Union address Tuesday night to Congress and the American people, President Bush cited the Kay report as support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq. > > \*\*“Had we failed to act, [Saddam’s] weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day,” Bush said \*\* He’s lying straight to our faces, and no one gives a shit. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938/102 "2004-01-22T04:36:08Z")
Regarding the USA alleged empire, sure it´s not like in the times of Victoria, but here´s some food for thought: do you know of any other country that keeps military bases around the whole world? ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938/103 "2004-01-22T21:36:19Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > do you know of any other country that keeps military bases around the whole world? [France.](http://www.defense.gouv.fr/air/orga/base/monde1.html) ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938/104 "2004-01-23T00:05:25Z")
I don’t have a thing to add to this thread. I just want to say that I am so happy to have connected without running into a God damned “We seem to be having this teensey little problem with the data base,” or “This page cannot be displayed” that I just got to tell the whole civilized world about it. This seemed as good a place as any. Thank you for your sympathy and support. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938/105 "2004-01-23T04:38:01Z")
> [@Michael Ellis](#): > > [France.](http://www.defense.gouv.fr/air/orga/base/monde1.html) Right, from those 9 bases, 4 are located on French territories, or better said, overseas departments (French Polinesia, Saind-Denis, French Guyana and New Caledonia) The other 5 are on ex.colonies, that is, they represent the remanent of an empire. It´s not such a great example after all. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938/106 "2004-01-23T04:51:42Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > Right, from those 9 bases, 4 are located on French territories, or better said, overseas departments (French Polinesia, Saind-Denis, French Guyana and New Caledonia) > > The other 5 are on ex.colonies, that is, they represent the remanent of an empire. > > It´s not such a great example after all. All 9 represent the remnant of a empire. It’s not like the first 4 became French territory by accident. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938/107 "2004-01-23T05:07:45Z")
Heh… quite true, Brutus. I should have said so. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938/108 "2004-01-23T12:09:15Z")
DtC, you keep mentioning in posts that you were in the military. What we don’t know is why you’re so bitter about the services. Assuming you were in 4 years, it was well before Bush took office. So skip the Hate-Bush fest and let us know why your service is germaine. London\_Calling, America is an Empire? _cough_ Falkland Islands _cough_ India _cough_ No. Ireland…et al. Flush. Thanks for risking your life 24/7, even at THIS VERY FUCKING MINUTE, to do your duty to the US in the way you saw fit when you joined. Please relay to the rest of your squad that my family, for one, think of you guys everyday. The detractors on these boards are a small minority (though vocal) of the rest of us 280+ million in this country as well as the 30+ other countries that support then of tyranny. _salute_ ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938/109 "2004-01-23T12:28:28Z")
> [@](#): > > by **duffer** > London\_Calling, America is an Empire? _cough_ Falkland Islands _cough_ India _cough_ No. Ireland…et al. I don’t think you’ll find that **L\_C** has ever said that the British didn’t have a empire and still has tiny fraction of it left. He is saying the US is a new type of Empire nothing more. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938/110 "2004-01-23T12:51:36Z")
Yes. Just like the Japan rediscovered the benefits of mercantilism, the US has rediscovered the benefits of imperialism. Everyone else thinks: “Hey dudes, been there and done that. It ain’t as easy or as good as it looks. What happened? Did you learn nothing from the entire 19th and 20th centuries?”. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938/111 "2004-01-23T13:11:36Z")
OK, I’ve been converted! Get us out of Kosovo! I don’t remember Yugoslavia attacking the US or any of our allies. We still have soldiers there, some dying. I tell you it’s an outrage that we don’t hear of the casualties in that region from the last decade. Oh, wait…we can’t blame Bush for that. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938/112 "2004-01-23T13:15:38Z")
OK, I’ve been converted! Get us out of Kosovo! I don’t remember Yugoslavia attacking the US or any of our allies. We still have soldiers there, some dying. I tell you it’s an outrage that we don’t hear of the casualties in that region from the last decade. Oh, wait…we can’t blame Bush for that. Never mind. Guess I forgot it’s only ok to free whites from brutal dictators. The Dems are happy to allow “lesser” people like Arabs to suffer a crushing dictator. Cool, I’m starting to learn the rules! ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938/113 "2004-01-23T13:17:25Z")
Fuck me (Pit self for not previewing) :wally Won’t happen again :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938/114 "2004-01-23T13:24:03Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > OK, I’ve been converted! Get us out of Kosovo! I don’t remember Yugoslavia attacking the US or any of our allies. We still have soldiers there, some dying. I tell you it’s an outrage that we don’t hear of the casualties in that region from the last decade. Oh, wait…we can’t blame Bush for that. Never mind. Guess I forgot it’s only ok to free whites from brutal dictators. The Dems are happy to allow “lesser” people like Arabs to suffer a crushing dictator. Cool, I’m starting to learn the rules! Surely you are not suggesting that a conservative Republican has embarked on a 200 billion dollar rescue mission for the Iraqi people… ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938/115 "2004-01-23T15:00:47Z")
Britain had an empire - who knew ? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-and-loathing-in-bagdad/224938.md?page=5)