# Fuck The Middle East **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 30, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-middle-east/272025 "2004-10-30T15:57:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-middle-east/272025/81 "2004-11-02T05:46:09Z")
> [@andros](#): > > I’d bet so. > > Kdapt, Allah, Finagle, and Man-Jesus help us all. If I were a deity and read that post, I’d pretty much let the human race expire so I doubt help will be forthcoming. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-middle-east/272025/82 "2004-11-02T12:40:58Z")
> [@The Long Road](#): > > Is English your first language? Ya know, **Roadie** , we finally found common ground. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-middle-east/272025/83 "2004-11-02T15:25:42Z")
> [@andros](#): > > I’d bet so. > > Kdapt, Allah, Finagle, and Man-Jesus help us all. You forgot St. Vidicon… and Bog. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-middle-east/272025/84 "2004-11-02T17:09:29Z")
How could you forget Og and the Invisible Pink Unicorn? Sheeesh! ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-middle-east/272025/85 "2004-11-02T19:09:27Z")
Well, I wouldn’t expect the IPU to save anyone . . . but I suppose I should be absolutely terrified of leaving Offler the Crocodile God off the list. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-middle-east/272025/86 "2004-11-02T20:45:57Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > 1. And if you’ll look at your chart, you’ll see that the pre-1967 aid was just nickle-and-dime stuff. > > 2. Things would get bad, I admit. Things would get very bad for a while. But I can assure you, things would get much, much worse fro the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular. > > 3. We really could do without the U.S. financial aid - it may hurt our standard of living for a bit, and the military might have to downsize (while stil remaining far more powerful than anything in the area) - but it’s a monkey we would do good to take off our back. We’ve been relying on foreign support for far too long. > > As for other nations: we probably have enough to offer them in return. Israel has been offering non-military aid to other nations virtually since its inception, agricultural and mining technology in particular. Interesting to note that many of these same states have turned around and stabbed Israel in the back in the UN. While I’ve been arguing that continued aid to Israel should be contingent on concessions to the Palestinians for years, entirely withdrawing support would be more detrimental to Middle Eastern peace than just about any single action short of a declaration of war on a non-belligerent state. (Whoops, we covered that one already) **Snaggletooth** , you’re a complete fucking idiot. Maybe incinerating half a billion innocent civilians would make you feel better. Maybe just beating the shit out of you would make everyone else feel better, and would go much farther toward making the world a more peaceful place. Incidentally, the US presence on Diego Garcia was to dissuade the Soviets from invading Pakistan to gain a warm-water port. It _had_ very little to do with internecine conflict in the Middle East, although it certainly might have come in handy. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-middle-east/272025/87 "2004-11-02T21:51:20Z")
**bj:** \*[…] I’m left to wonder where the worldwide outrage was for the atrocities committed under Hussein? Perhaps I’ve missed it, perhaps it was prevalent and I never saw a news story, or pehaps it was political spin and exaggeration, but AFAIK there was no outcry by the same people who are wringing their hands and stomping their feet about what the troops have done. \* Yes, there was, and yes, you missed it. For example, there were many reports by Human Rights Watch in the 1990’s on the brutality and crimes of the Iraqi regime, e.g.: > [@](#): > > [Iraq’s Brutal Decrees: Amputation, Branding and the Death Penalty](http://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/IRAQ955.htm) (June 1995) > [Iraq’s Crime Of Genocide: The Anfal Campaign against the Kurds](http://store.yahoo.com/hrwpubs/ir1.html) (May 1994) > [Bureaucracy of Repression: The Iraqi Government in Its Own Words](http://www.hrw.org/reports/1994/iraq/) (February 1994) > [Scientific First: Soil Samples Taken from Bomb Craters in Northern Iraq Reveal Nerve Gas - Even](http://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/iraqgas/) (April 1993) Other organizations such as Amnesty International and Physicians for Social Responsibility, as well as the UN, also reported on these and other Iraqi abuses. There have been a number of news stories about them, such as [U.N. report: Human rights abuses worsening in Iraq](http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/meast/9911/03/mideast.un.iraq/index.html) (CNN, 3 November 1999). Maybe if your newspaper had put stories like these next to the leaders about Clinton’s blow job, you would have taken more notice of them. In any case, don’t kid yourself that your smug ignorance is anybody else’s fault. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-middle-east/272025/88 "2004-11-02T21:58:49Z")
> [@buttonjockey308](#): > > … AFAIK there was no outcry by the same people who are wringing their hands and stomping their feet about what the troops have done. Perhaps because many of them were in grade school at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-middle-east/272025/89 "2004-11-02T22:59:07Z")
Is it not possible to be outraged over what Saddam was doing _and_ be outraged at the current mess we’ve made of Iraq? Or is that too difficult to grasp for some people? And while we’re at it, can I pre-emptively express my outrage over the political repression in Uzbekistan, a country which the US is currently cozying up to (oil again)? I only mention this for the record, for when we invade them in another ten years when Jeb is President. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-middle-east/272025/90 "2004-11-02T23:10:22Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > And while we’re at it, can I pre-emptively express my outrage over the political repression in Uzbekistan, a country which the US is currently cozying up to (oil again)? I only mention this for the record, for when we invade them in another ten years when Jeb is President. I’ll add some more of my own outrage about Uzbekistan to that. Also I’d like to again express outrage that members of Team Bush are morally and financially backing the international terrorist cult ‘ **Sazeman-e Mojahedin-e Khalq-e Iran** ’ who were enforcers for some of Hussein’s oppression, assasinated Americans and **fought alongside Hussein’s forces against US troops in the invasion of Iraq**. With friends like these… ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-middle-east/272025/91 "2004-11-02T23:12:34Z")
Did I mention that they’re Marxists? Yes, they’re a Marxist international terrorist cult and members of Team Bush provide them with moral and financial support. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-middle-east/272025/92 "2004-11-04T09:35:53Z")
> [@Aldebaran](#): > > Forgot to mention: Going by the stupid picture you posted you need to clean your teeth first. They won’t let you pass the border like this. When did he post a picture? ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-middle-east/272025/93 "2004-11-04T10:14:02Z")
> [@SimonX](#): > > Perhaps because many of them were in grade school at the time. Or we were damn protesting when we were arming the bastard to the teeth and pointing him at Iran and being told by our governments that Saddam was " ‘our son of a bitch’ so STFU." ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-middle-east/272025/94 "2004-11-04T11:16:58Z")
Fuck the Middle East? Oh. There’s an ambitious goal. Lotsa women in that region, what 125 million or so. You plan to marry them too, or just screw and run? _“He was a man with a purpose. Not a very good purpose, as he would have been the first to admit, but it was at least a purpose and it did keep him on the move.”_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-middle-east/272025.md?page=4)