Something to think about-Sadam/guns

I got this in email and thought it might evoke some discussion here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif . I don't admire Sadam at all but this is something to think about if true----
One of the things that always amazed me is the number of photos of Sadam walking through the streets of Baghdad surrounded by Iraqis. (These are not propaganda shoots, since one of the films I saw was shot by the BBC and they were on a balcony)

I know he is also surrounded by body guards, but it would be so easy for a skilled rifleman to take him out.

Also, you see him on the balcony overlooking this huge square. Easy shot. And, I have talked to people who have been to Iraq, and they do confirm that weapons of every variety are easily available. Hmmmmm.... Very strange.

Curious, how in the capital of "Stalinist" Iraq, firearms are freely available to every citizen! Surely, if the Hussein regime was "hated" and on the brink of being overthrown, gun stores would be the first thing the government would crack down on. What should really give Americans pause is the fact that the gun restrictions under Saddam Hussein are in fact milder than what US citizens would enjoy had Bill Clinton and his administration gotten their way, and for that matter the restrictions they enjoy in many states of the union already!

Hmmm. You're right. Maybe the anti-gun activists have it all wrong? Or maybe we're not hearing the truth about the state of sentiment in Iraq. Or both of course.

The more I'm learning what it's taking me just to be able to order the non-inert canisters for my TigerLight, which is so very obviously pure self defense, the more annoyed I am with the myriad laws of Massachusetts. Here, even pepper spray is "ammunition" and requires a full training course in all small-size firearms, plus approval (which may be denied, not requiring a 'reason') by the local police chief who issues the license. So much for the right to bear arms.

I think our local police chief is great, by indirect inference of knowing our local police who are fantastic. It's the legislation that I'm seeing as something terrible.

I've often wondered if the strict gun laws in MA were due to Ted Kennedy's influence. After all, the liquor prices are really low. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

He has broad coverage, in many senses of the phrase. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

But should any Iraqis gather to organise overthrowing Saddam, they face torture and the extermination of their families.

Guns are the tools, but they need to be backed up with freedom of thought.

If someone gets caught trying to oust the dictator, he would be tortured and made an example of. Bad enough.

It's when they torture and kill your mother, father, brothers and sisters, wife, children, aunts and uncles and possibly even more extended family members....

Sometimes they do all that on the assumption that you're planning to undermine the dictator. They don't have the freedom to meet in nice little govt opposed groups.

Would you really want to wipe out your whole branch of the family tree for that? Knowing someone just as bad would take his place...

That's why the US has to step in and oppose the rest of the world. While many govts who are content with their own freedom sit back and feel free to debate the issue, the US has to be the bad guy and take action. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/poke2.gif

Just my opinion.

-Jason

He has lot's of look-alikes. How do you know the real Saddam shows up in public?

I can pretty much (confidently) say that every propoganda shot seen of Saddam that shows any armed persons in his vicinity are Iraqi state sanctioned images and all persons are screened and trusted by him (as far as he trusts his people). A biography of Saddam released by a former top Iraqi general states that even his top military officials are subjected to check their weapons upon visiting his palaces and also are subsequently searched up to four times at various checkpoints on their way to meetings with him. Any sidearms shown in possession during the televised meeting are probably unloaded and the individuals are searched for the possiblity of smuggling live ammo in.

We are talking about a VERY paranoid individual here. The same biography states that Saddam only sleeps for about 20 minute intervals throughout the day and constantly changes location. It also states that Saddam does not allow armed individuals in proximity (aside from security and private bodyguards) when he visits his combat command centers on the battle field even if they are in the midst of seeing action.

Iraqi state TV is very strictly regulated and controlled by Iraqi security forces. All reports of human rights violations in Iraq published by UN human rights councils (not the stupid security council), in the last decade and a half, condemn the Iraqi TV media blackout on His murderous and tortureous acts effected by Saddam's brutal regeme.

When Saddam took power in Iraq one of his first actions was to excecute 3000 people of opposition in a matter of 3 days. This man is a brutal tyrant and his political organization the Baath party is actually a MINORITY party in Iraq and is grossly outnumbered in population which is why they must use brutality as a way of quelling opposition.

People are very, very scared of this man (rightfully so)!

Later,
TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif