# Should America re-install Hussein as President? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 16, 2004, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686 "2004-09-16T14:03:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/21 "2004-09-16T17:38:30Z")
> [@grienspace](#): > > A recent bombing by the insurgents has once again got Iraqis pissed off at the Americans for their inability to squash the spate of terror. Pet peeve: The word you want is “quash”, not “squash”. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/22 "2004-09-16T17:47:21Z")
Asking the Iraqi citizens to be “grateful” would be like asking the Russians to be “grateful” to the Bolsheviks after the Tsarist regime was overthrown.\* Jesus. \*[sub]yes, I know that the Bolsheviks weren’t the ones who overthrew the monarchy. My point still stands, however.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/23 "2004-09-16T18:19:00Z")
The whole thing sucks ass so bad we are down to ‘reinstating Hussein’ sarcasm to make a point about something. Everything that has been said about BushCo is enough. We’re there. What do we do now? Maybe getting the hell out is the right thing, but what a frigging waste. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/24 "2004-09-16T23:48:54Z")
> [@Gawd](#): > > Grateful? My god, your arrogance is astounding. IMO, they’re pissed at exactly the right people about how their country is being run and the amount of security they don’t have today. We removed an evil, brutal, murderous dictator and replaced it with bedlam, anarchy, murder, and a civil/religious war. Nothing I posted should suggest that I think they should be grateful, however since they clearly aren’t, I think we should do our best to own up and restore the country to the past. It clearly wants and needs a ruthless dictator. Americans can flagellate themselves all they want for this misadventure, but we need solutions for the future and I don’t hear any, not one proposal as to where we go from here. > [@jjimm](#): > > Would you be grateful in these circumstances? Actually, I would, and my parents and grand parents would as well. They and the whole rest of the Dutch people have demonstated gratitude annually with gifts to Canada for their liberation from Hitler. And their liberation was not exactly smooth as Operation Market Garden was quite the blunder and [30,000](http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/science_fair_projects_encyclopedia/Dutch_famine_of_1944) Dutch citizens STARVED TO DEATH AS A RESULT ! (My dad ate a cat and survived on cached potatoes) I’ll bet most of you posters didn’t know that did you? Thats because the Dutch don’t make a big issue out of a fuck up where the intention was to secure their liberation. I accept the fact that freedom like westerners know it is completely foreign to the average Iraqi psyche, and it apparently isn’t worth risking one’s life for. Now that I know that, I ask what should the next American president do to best rectify this problem. And don’t give me the the answer that it is all hopeless. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2004, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/25 "2004-09-17T00:02:13Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Pet peeve: The word you want is “quash”, not “squash”. [Dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=squash) > [@](#): > > To put down or suppress; quash: squash a revolt. > To silence or fluster, as with crushing words: squash a heckler. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2004, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/26 "2004-09-17T00:04:41Z")
> [@minty green](#): > > Whoosh. The OP appears to be suggesting that criticism of our misadventure in Iraq is misguided because the alternative would be Saddam Hussein retaining control of the country. See, if you’re against the war, then you’re for Saddam. Much like if you’re against Bush, then you’re for another 9/11. Please don’t ever accept an appointment as a judge. ---
**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:** [September 17, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/27 "2004-09-17T00:08:21Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > The whole thing sucks ass so bad we are down to ‘reinstating Hussein’ sarcasm to make a point about something. > > Everything that has been said about BushCo is enough. > > We’re there. What do we do now? > > Maybe getting the hell out is the right thing, but what a frigging waste. I’ll tell you a much bigger waste. Doing what we’re currently doing (fooling ourselves) for another 5-10 years, and then abruptly getting the hell out. I’ve said it a million times, but I’d have preferred SH in power to our current situation. Oh and by the way… “Intelligence report: Iraq prospects bleak” [http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/09/16/us.iraq.ap/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/09/16/us.iraq.ap/index.html) > [@](#): > > “It’s beyond pitiful, it’s beyond embarrassing, it’s now in the zone of dangerous,” said Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska, referring to figures showing only about 6 percent of the reconstruction money approved by Congress last year has been spent. Fun shit. ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/28 "2004-09-17T00:48:02Z")
Grienspace, you’re full of shit. In your first post you say that they’re not grateful and therefore we should re-insert Hussein. Then I call you on your gratefulness comment and you say that you’re not saying they HAVE to be grateful, but since they’re not anyways, we should re-insert Hussein. Does this really make sense to you? :rolleyes: The grace of the Iraqi people would change your arrogant attitude? I don’t think so. Your attitude is exactly the reason people around the world dislike Americans. It’s an attitude I’m getting sick of as an American. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/29 "2004-09-17T01:01:25Z")
**Gawd** , may I suggest that you are full of shit ! How clear can I be?! We obviously didn’t do them any favours, we fucked up and now we’ve got to rectify the situation and if you think you can come up with a better solution to the present problem then lets hear it. Otherwise FUCK OFF ! BTW I’m not American but I say “we” because as a Dutch-Canadian I did support the effort which I now regret. I made a mistake. Okay ? ---
**Author:** ![MrTuffPaws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MrTuffPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrTuffPaws)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/30 "2004-09-16T20:21:46Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > The Vietnam War was from 1959 to 1975. Some notable events from Saddam Hussein’s life during that period. He got involved in politics in 1957, a beneficiary of some nepotism because he had an uncle who was a party mover and shaker. In 1964 he spent some time imprisoned by a anti-Baath party which was in power. I don’t know if they used tiger cages or not. He escaped in 1967 and was once again the beneficiary of nepotism as his relative General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr took Baath party leadership and in a coup in 1968 the party siezed power in Iraq. Saddam was made Vice-President and kept himself in the shadows, although he was generally the primary decision-maker. In 1973 the Baath party defeated a coup attempt and re-wrote some rules to give themselves some more warmaking power. This left a stupid amount of unilateral power in the hands of Hussein, who then used it as he saw fit, foregoing the established processes and his own advisors and cabinet. Funny that Saddam did more for his country during that time than both of our candidates combined. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2004, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/31 "2004-09-16T21:45:16Z")
> [@grienspace](#): > > Actually, I would, and my parents and grand parents would as well. They and the whole rest of the Dutch people have demonstated gratitude annually with gifts to Canada for their liberation from Hitler. The Dutch _were_ liberated. It may surprise you to hear this, but Iraq, well, wasn’t occupied until we got there. NOW it’s an occupied country, and technically the Iraqi people won’t be liberated until somebody makes us leave. Exactly how many gifts have you gotten from the Germans lately for liberating _them_ from Hitler? I realize that the comparison is unfair, since an awful lot of Germans that needed liberating didn’t survive to do any gift-showering. Still, the point stands. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/32 "2004-09-16T21:47:09Z")
**Somehow this post got inserted midway through the thread. I don’t quite understand how, and I’m reposting it to avoid confusion.** The Dutch _were_ liberated. It may surprise you to hear this, but Iraq, well, wasn’t occupied until we got there. NOW it’s an occupied country, and technically the Iraqi people won’t be liberated until somebody makes us leave. Exactly how many gifts have you gotten from the Germans lately for liberating _them_ from Hitler? I realize that the comparison is unfair, since an awful lot of Germans that needed liberating didn’t survive to do any gift-showering. Still, the point stands. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/33 "2004-09-16T22:04:04Z")
> [@grienspace](#): > > BTW I’m not American but I say “we” because as a Dutch-Canadian I did support the effort which I now regret. I made a mistake. Okay ? Okay. And good on you for recognizing and acknowledging it. As the to the actual question: > [@](#): > > Should America re-install Hussein as President? No. America has already done more than enough installing and uninstalling over there. There needs to be an unambiguous transition of military presence from U.S. troops to some other entity (probably the U.N.). Negotiating a willingness of some party to be that entity is going to have to be done by someone other than George Bush the Lesses (and thanks to George Bush the Lesses, is probably going to involve a humiliating amount of public shit-eating and ass-licking). Oh, and the U.S. probably needs to distribute a few blank checks to finance this. Thanks a heap, George. I only wish the checks could be drawn on your personally-held store of assets, and those of your neo-con, PNAC puppetmasters. ---
**Author:** ![bheadxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@bheadxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bheadxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/34 "2004-09-16T22:04:50Z")
> [@grienspace](#): > > Nothing I posted should suggest that I think they should be grateful, however since they clearly aren’t, I think we should do our best to own up and restore the country to the past. It clearly wants and needs a ruthless dictator. Why don’t you do the job yourself? It seems like you clearly know the Iraqi people enough. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/35 "2004-09-16T22:23:46Z")
How did my post get to be #27? I even began it with a quoted section of #34. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/36 "2004-09-16T22:27:39Z")
> [@bheadxxx](#): > > Why don’t you do the job yourself? It seems like you clearly know the Iraqi people enough. Do I detect sarcasm? Are you suggesting that Iraqis do appreciate the sacrifice of American lives towards their liberation? Yah right. That was just a stupid ignorant comment on your part ! Tell me your solution Fuckhead! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/37 "2004-09-16T22:30:06Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > In 1973 the Baath party defeated a coup attempt and re-wrote some rules to give themselves some more warmaking power. And with all this power did he as much as lift a finger to help us in the Vietnamization (or Iraqization) of the war? No, he was out boozing it up with his buddies! Presidential timber, my Aunt Fannie! ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/38 "2004-09-16T22:43:10Z")
> [@Really Not All That Bright](#): > > **Somehow this post got inserted midway through the thread. I don’t quite understand how, and I’m reposting it to avoid confusion.** Fat lot of good that did, eh? 😉 Sam ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/39 "2004-09-16T22:44:26Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > There needs to be an unambiguous transition of military presence from U.S. troops to some other entity (probably the U.N.). Finally, someone has presented an alternative solution! The UN you say? Okay, assume America pours 200 billion dollars (like Kerry claims the US has already spent there) into the UN, do you think that the UN can do a better job than Hussein to bring stability and peace to the country. Who or what kind of government would be left behind? (I’m ignoring the UN record of course for security like in central Africa). ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686/40 "2004-09-16T22:50:45Z")
let’s see, a little over a year ago certain folks were pounding the SH drum, insisting that to _protect ourselves_ from WoMD, terrorism and all, that we should invade Iraq. certain _other folks_ were suggesting ‘um, wait a sec, that may not be a good idea ya know’ and we were shouted down, with ‘your buddy Saddam’ crap, and repeated “he **gassed his own people** ” and “a short war, people cheering us for removing such a dastardly demon” and all. And I remember saying 'who the hell thinks it’s gonna be short, that folks will cheer us for **invading their country** and all. and of course we all got to see over and over that photo op of the statue of Saddam toppling, and all the pro war faction were positively giddy with “see, see **see**???” only now it appears (link same as **World Eaters’s** ) [here](http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/09/16/us.iraq.ap/index.html) even according to Republican Senator Lugar, Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, says > [@](#): > > Our committee heard blindly optimistic people from the administration prior to the war and people outside the administration – what I call the ‘dancing in the street crowd,’ that we just simply will be greeted with open arms," Lugar said. "The nonsense of all of that is apparent. The lack of planning is apparent the committee, according to the link, had “long argued -even before the war” that > [@](#): > > that administration plans for rebuilding Iraq were inadequate and based on overly optimistic assumptions that Americans would be greeted as liberators . So a **failed** policy based on **faultily optimistic flawed reasoning** , ignoring **warnings** from others about those fatal flaws, have resulted in what some saw as a predictable and preventable mess, but **your** solution is to throw up the preverbial hands and announce ‘well, it’s all fucked up, some one else fix it’? My solution? have the idiots who thought up this fucking mess, ignored all of the signs, failed to plan adequately for a reasonable end result, and continue to this fucking day to blow sunshine up our preverbial asses ( > [@](#): > > We’re making progress on the ground," Bush said at his Texas ranch late last month ) admit that they were woefully and horrifically wrong, and ante up for their mistakes. Acknowledge that they’ll have to reinstate the draft to bring our fighting force back up to safe numbers, which would cost them political capital. pay (financially) for the costs of the war by acknowledging that they underestimated woefully the costs of this and will need to cut (their pet) programs, tax cuts etc. Acknowledge that the policy of pre-emptive strike was morally wrong. IT will continue to cost this country for years and years. I want it to cost those fuckers who did it more than it will cost me. Unfortunately, I fear that it won’t. People want to hear ‘good things’, not reality so they’ll lap up this b/s about ‘things are getting better in IRaq, the economy is growing (even if your incomes arent’) and look over there at that shiney thing. Bitter? not as bitter as I will be when my most dire predictions come true. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-america-re-install-hussein-as-president/264686.md?page=3)