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2004-02-09 Iraq-Jordan

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Posted by Dan Darling 2004-02-09 12:46:16 AM|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Guess the turbans/baathists (there is a difference?) don't want anyone who can think for themselves.

Posted by Nguard 2004-2-9 8:40:44 AM|| 2004-2-9 8:40:44 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 I've always believed that one of the reasons that France is so messed up is because during the French Revolution, they eliminated a good majority the people who had the ability to achieve success within an existing power structure - as opposed to the type who obtain power by going around smashing stuff and killing people. I can't help but wonder if that dilution of the gene pool is the reason that France, today, remains a mess.

Posted by B 2004-2-9 9:09:24 AM|| 2004-2-9 9:09:24 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Nguard, I doubt its the thinking for/to oneself that is threatening. Anyone who can speak to others with credibility or protect others from bullies is in danger.

Posted by Super Hose 2004-2-9 9:55:01 AM|| 2004-2-9 9:55:01 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 SH- What you said is what I meant. Its not just the thinking, it is the associated communication and leadership abilities that derive from a western education (rather than the rote memorization taught by the "holy" men). The Enemy has enough problems/frustrations from the continous bombardment of ideas from us infidels. To have a domestic source of chalenge to the social status quo...

Posted by Nguard 2004-2-9 10:49:02 AM|| 2004-2-9 10:49:02 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 B: I think it goes way beyond the French Revolution.

* Napoleonic wars: 98% of a 400,000 man army lost in Russia, just for starters.
* Panama canal: A whole generation of their best engineers wiped out by malaria and yellow fever.
* WWI: Enough has been written about this.

The survival traits that you needed to survive in France for the last two centuries are cowardice, being unadventuresome, and a certain amoral ability to adapt. I'm not saying that these traits have propagated through genes, but rather through memes and culture. The bold rebels, warriors and soldiers went out and died in society altering numbers for 200 years. The weasels, shirkers, and cowards stayed behind and propagated their values.

Posted by 11A5S 2004-2-9 11:57:13 AM|| 2004-2-9 11:57:13 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 Nuguard, this Newsday article is sort of related: Iraq's Secular Parties Try to Gain Ground. It's hard to say who is doing the killing, but I would assume that the professor killing is being done by the Ba'athists or Iranian surrogates.

Posted by Super Hose 2004-2-9 12:02:27 PM|| 2004-2-9 12:02:27 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 11A5S - Er, i wouldnt push too hard on that. Are you at all familiar with the history to the US Civil War??? Bravery wasnt a good survival trait then, either.

Posted by liberalhawk 2004-2-9 1:27:15 PM|| 2004-2-9 1:27:15 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 I wouldn't lose any sleep over this. Intellectuals in Iraq are not known for being pro-American. These guys are likely to have gone through more years of school (and thus, more years of propaganda) in Iraq. The ones who have returned from studying abroad are probably even more anti-American than the locals. The fewer pseudo-intellectuals exist in Iraq, the better off we'll be.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2004-2-9 3:14:13 PM|| 2004-2-9 3:14:13 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 C'mon, LH. We've never taken the kind of casualties the French did, percentage-wise. And the the admitedly horrendous casualties that we suffered in the Civil War were almost immediately made up by adventuresome immigrants.

Posted by 11A5S 2004-2-9 4:47:34 PM|| 2004-2-9 4:47:34 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 Plus we still had a substaintial untamed frontier.That encouraged free thinking individulists.

Posted by Raptor 2004-2-9 5:22:08 PM|| 2004-2-9 5:22:08 PM|| Front Page Top

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