If I believed in Karma: BP, Iran, the CIA.

[piece-itpete]

My take is that humanitarian military missions usually don't work. We've generally had success in asskicking.

Btw, I had it wrong, no blinking:

http://blog.soulwire.co.uk/notes/mis...d-of-languille

The first chair: http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/Kemm...th7aug1890.htm

Pete

[diamondsoul]

Yup ol' Saddam was a piece of work. Good riddance to him, his sons and cronies. That picture of him and Rumsfield shaking hands is a classic. Shaking hands with the devil, or satan meets lucifer?

Problem with countries like Iraq that are made up of several peoples: Kurds, Shiah marsh Arabs, a Sunni ruling class, etc. is that it takes a brute like Saddam to keep the peace. Just like when Tito was gone Yugoslavia fell apart.

Sometimes The Project for a New American Century still appears to be running things from behind the scenes.

http://www.newamericancentury.org/

Cheers

Lar

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

PS: BP in America was formerly Standard Oil.

Not exactly. BP bought Amoco (Standard Oil of Indiana) and became BP-Amoco. A few years later they dropped the "Amoco" but they still have some Amoco retail outlets in the east and midwest. Out west they market as ARCO because they also bought Atlantic Richfield along the way.

John

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Not exactly. BP bought Amoco (Standard Oil of Indiana) and became BP-Amoco. A few years later they dropped the "Amoco" but they still have some Amoco retail outlets in the east and midwest. Out west they market as ARCO because they also bought Atlantic Richfield along the way.

John

Wow!!!

And all of this time I thought that they were just a giant multinational.

Chas

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by Charles

Wow!!!

And all of this time I thought that they were just a giant multinational.

Chas

Oh, and before all that they bought Sinclair.

John

[Charles]

Originally Posted by diamondsoul

Yup ol' Saddam was a piece of work. Good riddance to him, his sons and cronies. That picture of him and Rumsfield shaking hands is a classic. Shaking hands with the devil, or satan meets lucifer?

Problem with countries like Iraq that are made up of several peoples: Kurds, Shiah marsh Arabs, a Sunni ruling class, etc. is that it takes a brute like Saddam to keep the peace. Just like when Tito was gone Yugoslavia fell apart.

Sometimes The Project for a New American Century still appears to be running things from behind the scenes.

http://www.newamericancentury.org/

Cheers

Lar

They REALLY said that?

Engaging in diplomacy and advancing the nation's interests are positive attributes, IMHO.

Chas

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Oh, and before all that they bought Sinclair.

John

So they're the dirty bastards that killed that cute little dinosaur!!!

Now I'm pissed!!!

Chas

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by Charles

So they're the dirty bastards that killed that cute little dinosaur!!!

Now I'm pissed!!!

Chas

Yeah, me too. I really liked that logo.

Dammit!

Dave

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

Yeah, me too. I really liked that logo.

Dammit!

Dave

I liked it too.

The really weird thing about BP buying Sinclair is this. ARCO bought Sinclair in 1969 but the Feds made ARCO divest itself of some of Sinclair's assets for anti-trust reasons. To satisfy the government, ARCO sold its eastern operations to BP. Then in 2000 BP bought ARCO so now BP owns all of Sinclair, all of ARCO and all of Amoco. Things sure did change between 1969 and 2000.

John

[Combwork]

Originally Posted by diamondsoul

For instance: thing is that it is far past time when how funds are used to 'educate' and 'democratize' 'backward nations is examined rationally. I have a feeling that if the 100's of billions of dollars which have been used to destroy the infrastructure and culture of Iraq had been instead used to actually create better infrastructure, health care, and education etc. that our results would be a bit more positive.

Cheers

Lar

The problem is that unless we took the 18th century British way of doing things and colonised the place, any funding for schools and a better political system would have to have been done through the Iraqi government. I wonder how much of the money would have reached the civilian population.

One thing in Sadam's favor was under his rule Iraq was at least in part a secular society. Unless you were caught trying to rock the boat you could live pretty much how you liked.

Now look how it's improved, with women treated as equal's and tolerance of all faiths.