Saddam was a local bully boy member of the socialist Baath party that worked his way up to seize power through cunning and ruthlessness.
Almost all of Iraq's arms came from the Soviet Union or the People's Republic of China, a little from France, and very little from anywhere else.
I assume you didn't know that and were looking to blame the US for him?
Until the 1990s, Iraq had perhaps the best university system in the Middle East...
And what happened in August, 1990?
Anyone? Anyone?
Iraq invaded Kuwait, which lead to the destruction of most of the Iraqi Army, massive damage to the economy and infrastructure, and harsh international sanctions that Saddam magnified the effect of by diverting money intended for food and medicine to buying weapons and building many large, expensive palaces.
From your article:
Iraqi universities began their decline in the 12 years after the 1991 Gulf War. As the international sanctions regime cut off journal subscriptions and equipment purchases, academic salaries fell precipitously, and 10,000 Iraqi professors left the country. Those faculty who remained were increasingly closed off from new developments in their fields.
The terrible situation Saddam created was made even worse by the Islamists and insurgents.
Killings lead to brain drain from Iraq - 17 Apr 2006
The head of Arabic studies at Baghdad University was shot 32 times when his car was ambushed on the way to work.
Abdul Latif al-Mayah was murdered after he had appeared on al-Jazeera television. Police described the killing as "professional".
In Ramadi, the president of the university, Abdul Hadi Rajab al-Hitawi, was dragged from his home and bundled into the boot of a car. A ransom demand was received a few days later.
Both men are among the growing number of intellectuals to be targeted in Iraq, a phenomenon that is resulting in an unprecedented brain drain as those who can move abroad increasingly do so before they or their families join the list of their colleagues killed or kidnapped.
At least 182 academics have been killed since the invasion in 2003 and there have been many more kidnappings and murder attempts.
And it is not just university professors who are being targeted. In the past four months alone 331 school teachers have been murdered and nine medical workers were killed in a single day in the northern city of Mosul last month.
(Mosul? That rings a bell: Isis executioners 'kill gays by hurling them off roofs' in Mosul )
Professionals Fleeing Iraq As Violence, Threats Persist - January 23, 2006
Exodus is not new to the country. Iraqis who could flee Saddam Hussein's repressive rule did: Poor Shiite Muslims sneaked across the border into Iran, and Sunni Arabs crossed the mountains into Syria or the desert to Jordan. People often waited years for permission to attend a seminar or do business in another country and then would disappear there. Hussein began holding such people's families hostage to guarantee their return.
Many of those émigrés flooded back into Iraq when Hussein fell. But the country's instability and daily regimen of violence have made some reconsider their return. Others who stayed throughout Hussein's rule are finally saying goodbye to their homeland now.
Iraq still had engineering and medical schools after it was liberated. The Bush administration facilitated partnerships between Iraqi institutions and those in the US and Europe, ending Iraq's isolation from the international community and helped its efforts to rebuild after the long night of Saddam's rule.
Saddam did immense damage to the country by diverting its resources into arms deals and building palaces instead of education, medicine, and other necessities. That is before you get into the political repression, mass murder, and so on.
The Islamists that you can't quite bring yourself to condemn specifically targeted Iraqi intellectuals for murder, people like professors, doctors, and engineers.
Pro tip: Don't let your butt hurt over policy disagreements cause you to lie, i.e. "until GWB destroyed them".
Irony alert: Somehow I can't imagine you suggesting to any other country or group of terrorists that they not attack another country full of engineers: the US. Funny how that works.
Most of Europe has meaning immigration of people from Muslim nations occurring. But China doesn't and it is suffering its own unrest and attacks (as you may have heard).
And another "nutter" chimes in
Your handle is both well chosen and surprising utilitarian.
Are your sympathies with the Islamist terrorists, or Western civilization?
Unfortunately it is an "AND", not an "OR".
Is it OK with you if the French at least inconvenience the people trying to massacre them?
"False flag"? Don't be an ass.
That's some fine illiterate spin there Bob.
So you failed on two accounts.
Yes, I'm sure no other billionaires would think to do that.
(You can't see it, but my eyes are rolling.)
The Koch brothers? I doubt they'd get the chance, there are plenty of people ahead of them in line.
Out of the $128 million spent by the top 10 individual donors to outside groups, Democrats hauled in $91 million or 71% of donations.
The libertarian Koch Brothers came in tied for the 23rd spot of largest spenders, according to the Associated Press. -- source
Supposedly their new capsules contain 375mg of coacoa flavanols.
The supplements are a follow on to their previous research and another product. The first "CocoaVia" product was a small dark chocolate bar made with their proprietary Coacoapro process which they claim significantly boosts the level of retained flavanols in chocolate.
Finland, like other countries that have had security incidents, seeks to protect itself
Supo wants expanded net surveillance powers - 20.6.2013
The head of the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) has told the business daily Talouselämä that his organization wants increased funding and expanded powers to carry out surveillance of internet traffic.
Five years ago, the Swedish Defence Radio Authority (FRA) was authorized to warrantlessly wiretap all telephone and internet traffic that crosses Sweden's borders. According to Supo chief Antti Pelttari, Finland should consider introducing the Swedish model here as well.
"Our legal mandate is to ensure the security of the State of Finland and its social system from both internal and external threats," said Pelttari. "There must be means available to monitor what is transmitted through data networks, and the capacity to identify and evaluate anomalies," he added.
I wonder who is attacking the Finns, and who would have reason to? Russia has been menacing Finland and its neighbors in the Baltics with incursions by aircraft and submarines. There is concern that Russia may turn on Finland after Ukraine. The Baltic states and other targets of Russia have suffered similar attacks coming from Russia.
I think there's a world market for about five computers. -- attr. Thomas J. Watson (Chairman of the Board, IBM), 1943
