# Milum is a babbling fountain of shit **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 29, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293 "2003-10-29T19:44:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/61 "2003-10-30T18:42:52Z")
> [@](#): > > By the end of the 1970s France was second only to the Soviet Union as a supplier of both military and civilian equipment to the Iraqis. The trend continued throughout the 1980s. France strongly backed Iraq during its war with Iran. Unlike other western governments who gave minimal help to Iraq hoping to stave off an Iraqi defeat and maintain the status quo; France supplied Iraq with Mirage Fighters, Super Etendard aircraft with Exocet missiles, and sophisticated munitions. From the “Arms” link. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/62 "2003-10-30T18:49:11Z")
It was a 50/50 shot and I crapped out. That was from the nukes link. So is this: > [@](#): > > French President Jacques Chirac’s special relationship with Saddam Hussein goes back almost 30 years. As the French Prime Minister in 1974, Chirac was instrumental in boosting France’s diplomatic and economic ties with oil-rich Iraq. Chirac called Saddam Hussein “a personal friend” after Chirac and Hussein finalized the agreement for the construction of a French-built nuclear reactor near Baghdad; the reactor that was later bombed by Israel. From the “arms” link: > [@](#): > > French military sales to Iraq were important for at least two reasons. First, they represented high-performance items. Iraq received attack helicopters, missiles, military vehicles, and artillery pieces from France. Iraq also bought more than 400 Exocet AM39 air-to-surface missiles and at least 200 AS30 laserguided missiles between 1983 and 1986. Second, unlike most other suppliers, France adopted an independent and unambiguous arms sales policy towards Iraq. France did not tie French arms commitments to Baghdad’s politico-military actions, and it openly traded with Iraq even when Iranian-inspired terrorists took French hostages in Lebanon. In late 1987, however, the French softened their Persian Gulf policy, and they consummated a deal with Tehran involving the exchange of hostages for detained diplomatic personnel. It was impossible in early 1988 to determine whether France would curtail its arms exports to Iraq in conjunction with this agreement. I _think_ they did curtail their arms sales, just in time for the next Iraqi war of conquest. ---
**Author:** ![\_possum\_stalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/b77776/32.png) [@\_possum\_stalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_possum_stalker)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/63 "2003-10-30T19:20:54Z")
**Ogre** : Those were some of **Milum** ’s most colorful posts. I was pleasantly astonished, however, to see he had embedded at least 2 facts in his posts. He doesn’t cite one, and the other is wrong, but still, I give the sorry bastard credit for trying. BTW: who was Saddam’s biggest, bestest pal? "Forty years ago, the Central Intelligence Agency, under President John F. Kennedy, conducted its own regime change in Baghdad, carried out in collaboration with Saddam Hussein… In 1963 Britain and Israel backed American intervention in Iraq, while other United States allies – chiefly France and Germany – resisted. …As its instrument the C.I.A. had chosen the authoritarian and anti-Communist Baath Party…According to the former Baathist leader Hani Fkaiki, among party members colluding with the C.I.A. in 1962 and 1963 was Saddam Hussein, then a 25-year-old who had fled to Cairo after taking part in a failed assassination of Kassem in 1958. [-Saddam’s early years in Smallville](http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/bush/morris.htm) Well that turned out to be the Mother of All Blowbacks… ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/64 "2003-10-30T19:26:24Z")
**Beagle** , weren’t you arguing [just 4 days ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=219640) that it was okay to overlook the fact that he was a tyrannical mass murdering shit and support Saddam in the 1980s since he was a secular, socialist alternative to the Mullahs in Iran? Shouldn’t we be applauding the French for supplying arms to hold the Mullahs back? Or is realpolitik only acceptable when the US is doing it? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/65 "2003-10-30T20:00:55Z")
Chiraq and Saddam go back 30 years, while [Rummy and Saddam](http://www.topos.org/rumsfeld.html) only go back 20. Naughty Frenchies! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Milum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Milum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milum)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/66 "2003-10-30T23:54:35Z")
Now now children. You have been bad little boys and girls so now the Milum must punish you. _jjimm 'possum hunter Beagle Orge flonks Mr.B neurotik elf6c London\_calling_ Space Vampire spooje CBEsapee Priceguy Gadfly ElvisL1ves Yojimbo\* Jackmannii Smeghead Chefguy Cheddarsnax Sailor Munch everton Derleth lieu SimonX xenophon41 kal \*\* (\*) denotes foreigner. If your name is on this list you are on probation. You may re-enter my esteem after proving to me that you are worthy of my regard. Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/67 "2003-10-31T00:01:33Z")
Please add me to the list. And for the record, I’m a domestic enemy who thinks you’re full of shit, not one of those damn foreigners. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/68 "2003-10-31T00:33:45Z")
Add my name to the list, because I sure don’t want your esteem. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/69 "2003-10-31T00:36:12Z")
> [@](#): > > …The hippies are gone and so is their license to unduly influence the course of political events… It would be a considerable comfort in my advancing years if I could embrace the illusion my ilk and I had any “undue” influence on “political events”. 'Struth, think we had hardly any, beyond the necessary spark of daring to think Otherwise. Wasn’t us. It was Methodist ministers sermonizing thier congregations. It was the hint of doubt in Walter Cronkites voice. More than anything, it was the guys with John Kerry and his posse, the Viet Nam Vets Against the War. When they started to march, in uniform, with the protestors…you could _feel_ the impact. About all we did was provide work for Bob Hope’s stable of hack writers of bath/job/hair jokes. So I’d be honored to accept your contempt, **Milum** , but must regret that I am not entitled. You, on the other hand, are entirely deserving of the attention you are currently basking in. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/70 "2003-10-31T00:36:32Z")
Sign me up too, asshole. ---
**Author:** ![\_possum\_stalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/b77776/32.png) [@\_possum\_stalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_possum_stalker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/71 "2003-10-31T00:44:42Z")
The “denotes [foreigner](http://www.4eigner.net/theband/2001064nrn-markschulman.html)” asterisk is a nice touch. **Milum** , you are a troubling fellow. Have you checked out [Americansforwar.com](http://Americansforwar.com)? I think you’d like it. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/72 "2003-10-31T00:54:27Z")
I know for a fact those guys aren’t in Foreigner. I think **London\_Calling** is in Journey. I feel the need to say it. This is just affirming is self-image as a truth-teller who gets under the Liberals’ skins with his True Righteousness™. ---
**Author:** ![cheddarsnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cheddarsnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheddarsnax)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/73 "2003-10-31T00:55:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Milum \* > **If your name is on this list you are on probation.** I consider this an honor. ---
**Author:** ![\_possum\_stalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/b77776/32.png) [@\_possum\_stalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_possum_stalker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/74 "2003-10-31T01:10:58Z")
**Ryujin** , I fear you and **Chef** are right- we may just be enabling the creepy bastard. It’s weird- as I’ve read through his posts I’ve found them more and more entertaining. He’s like the right-wing Dr. Bronner, but he makes much less sense than Bronner’s “Secret 6000 year old Swiss Essene monorail Birth control! All-one! or All-None!!!” soap labels. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/75 "2003-10-31T01:17:02Z")
I see Cleverkins has opted to continue creatively misspelling my name. Oh, the humor. Oh, the gut-splitting guffaws. Oh, uh, what did you say was on TV again? ---
**Author:** ![Short](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Short](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Short)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/76 "2003-10-31T01:19:03Z")
I feel somehow inadequate, not being honored on milum’s list. I’m a foreigner in Canada _and_ have a foreign sounding name. Does that count? Could I get honorary foreign status if I told you I studied French in college? ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/77 "2003-10-31T01:41:24Z")
Hey fuckwad, it’ll be much shorter list if you type in the names of those that _agree[_ with your babbling fountain of shit® ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/78 "2003-10-31T01:41:36Z")
Hey fuckwad, it’ll be much shorter list if you type in the names of those that _agree_ with your babbling fountain of shit® ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/79 "2003-10-31T02:24:43Z")
I studied German in high school and I’ve been to over _six_ countries outside the U.S., including such terrorist havens as France and Germany. That ought to make me an honorary foreigner, right? Please? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293/80 "2003-10-31T02:29:59Z")
Jeepers. Not only do I think **Milum** ’s a blithering idiot, I lived in France for ten years and continue to work for a French company. I mean, if I don’t belong on his list, then who does? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milum-is-a-babbling-fountain-of-shit/210293.md?page=5)