# What 'bad people' does the US support? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-people-does-the-us-support/220077 "2003-12-20T00:17:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![quelquechose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/6f9a4e/32.png) [@quelquechose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quelquechose)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-people-does-the-us-support/220077/1 "2003-12-20T00:17:31Z")
The US has supported quite a few bad people in its history, and I assume this is still going on. So, what ‘unpleasant’ people, organizations etc. does the US still support? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-people-does-the-us-support/220077/2 "2003-12-20T01:24:35Z")
Uzbekistan’s Karimov, Turkmenistan’s Niyazov, Kazakhstan’s Nazarbayev, Pakistan’s Musharraf, and Israel’s Sharon. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-people-does-the-us-support/220077/3 "2003-12-20T01:29:43Z")
Saudi’s royal family. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-people-does-the-us-support/220077/4 "2003-12-20T01:40:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mangeorge \* > \*\*Saudi’s royal family. \*\* :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-people-does-the-us-support/220077/5 "2003-12-20T01:43:27Z")
Tons. Sucks to say it but the world is filled with dictators and the US works with them. [http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/fdtcards/AlphaC.html](http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/fdtcards/AlphaC.html) That is a somewhat incorrect list, ie they dont list Saudi Arabia or Iraq (during the 80s) for example but they list countries like germany under hitler because a couple of companies helped build phone lines there, i guess the webmaster never heard of the lend-lease act with britian. So take the site with a grain of salt and realize its somewhat incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-people-does-the-us-support/220077/6 "2003-12-20T02:53:27Z")
i missed that ‘still’ part of your post. ---
**Author:** ![hermann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b487fb/32.png) [@hermann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hermann)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-people-does-the-us-support/220077/7 "2003-12-20T02:59:30Z")
My ex-wife ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-people-does-the-us-support/220077/8 "2003-12-20T03:02:39Z")
The governments of Egypt & Syria, the US supports them too. ---
**Author:** ![KenGr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecc23a/32.png) [@KenGr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KenGr)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-people-does-the-us-support/220077/9 "2003-12-20T03:04:43Z")
This question is in great need of clarification. What does “support” mean? For example, regardless of what you think of Sharon, he is the elected leader of Israel. When, in the election process, that changes, we will probably support the new guy. It seems to me that US policy has always been to at least nominally support elected leaders of countries we have relations with up to the point the election process is so corrupt you can’t ignore it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-people-does-the-us-support/220077/10 "2003-12-20T04:08:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Squink \* > \*\*:smack: \*\* Smack what? Elected officials, plus a few kings. King Fahd, of Saudi Arabia for example.