boojumsnark25 wrote: Haha, are you serious with that? History is not the "bottom line". History, yes, does repeat itself sometimes, but it is not a 100% guaranteed foreshadowing of what's going to happen. To say that history is always the future's prophet is ridiculous.
Here's the thing - you are trying to set yourself up as the future's prophet, trying to predict what would happen if Hussein tried to regain power and if he would die anyway before the situation in Iraq changed. With his execution, regardless of how you might feel about the death penalty, we can say with certainty he will not return to power.
But I'll say again - the effectiveness on life imprisonment depends on the next generation to agree with you, In the case of Iraq, it's not even the next generation, it's whatever the next regime thinks, and a new regime may not be far away. I hope the current Iraq government succeeds but who knows.
boojumsnark25 wrote: Haha, are you serious with that? History is not the "bottom line". History, yes, does repeat itself sometimes, but it is not a 100% guaranteed foreshadowing of what's going to happen. To say that history is always the future's prophet is ridiculous.
Here's the thing - you are trying to set yourself up as the future's prophet, trying to predict what would happen if Hussein tried to regain power and if he would die anyway before the situation in Iraq changed. With his execution, regardless of how you might feel about the death penalty, we can say with certainty he will not return to power.
But I'll say again - the effectiveness on life imprisonment depends on the next generation to agree with you, In the case of Iraq, it's not even the next generation, it's whatever the next regime thinks, and a new regime may not be far away. I hope the current Iraq government succeeds but who knows.
I never once said it was impossible for him to return to power. I'm saying it's highly unlikely. I'm not trying to be a prophet.
I'm against Saddam being executed. That is all I'm saying. Like I said, this conversation changed lanes without using a signal a couple times.
boojumsnark25 wrote:I'm against Saddam being executed. That is all I'm saying. Like I said, this conversation changed lanes without using a signal a couple times.
I'm against executing anyone, too. I wish we had a St. Helena where we could send Saddam to live out his days in prison. But as small as the world is today, that's not a reality.
Look, I realize that the argument is he might somehow bust out but I really don't see that happening if they kept him alive. First of all, like someone mentioned, he's around 70 years old. He'd probably die soon anyways. Second, the US could easily deport him to the States or somewhere else outside Iraq and hold him. The only reason I could see why people wanted the execution was to get rid of the burden of locking up this potential threat when in fact he likely would have been harmless.
boojumsnark25 wrote:Haha, are you serious with that?
Sure am. I'm not going to go to war over this; all I'm saying is that you're making it a little more simplistic than it really is by saying that there's no way Saddam could have come back to power in Iraq.
Let's say the US leaves Iraq and Saddam is still alive in jail. He gets busted out (which has just recently happened), his supporters (of which there are many) arm themselves (kinda like they're doing now), they fight a guerrilla battle until they gain the upper hand (kinda like they're doing now), and over the course of one, two, maybe five years they put him back in the palace.
Look at Afghanistan. It's happening there right now, or at least the Taliban are trying to make it happen. Don't disregard it simply because it seems far-fetched. It happened with Napoleon, it's possibly happening in Afghanistan and it could happen in Iraq.
OK, I guess I don't buy into that whole "history repeats itself" thing. I can think of too many differences between the Napoleonic era and the modern era.
Besides...to disprove your theory, all I have to do is provide one example of a ruler who was ousted from power, but not put to death, and who never returned to power. Mussolini, if I'm not mistaken, fits that bill. So if history repeats itself, it could repeat in either direction, right? So how can you be so sure of the fact it would repeat in the direction you say it would?
Actually Mussolini and his mistress were both executed (shot) by partisans and then hung on meat hooks in the public square to discourage any other fascists from continuing to fight.
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bobbing_headz wrote:Look, I realize that the argument is he might somehow bust out but I really don't see that happening if they kept him alive. First of all, like someone mentioned, he's around 70 years old. He'd probably die soon anyways.
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by Goatwhacker » Sun Dec 31, 2006 4:12 pm 
