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"...even the wicked get worse than they deserve." - Willa Cather, One of Ours

Friday, July 16, 2004

Occupation

PBS News Hour
The News hour did an extended interview with the Iraqi Ambassador to the US, Anbassador Rend Al-Rahim Francke.
JIM LEHRER: How can there not be occupation when there's still 140,000 foreign troops in Iraq?

REND AL-RAHIM FRANCKE: Well, there are troops in Japan, there are troops in Germany, until recently there were multi-national troops in Germany. There are troops in Korea, and in various other parts of the world. Do we deny that Japan is a sovereign nation? Do we deny that Germany is a sovereign state, or South Korea?

I do not think that the presence of troops in the country undermines sovereignty. The Iraqi government is sovereign to the extent that it determines the disposal of its resources, of its funds, it determines its own political development. And it also organizes its relationship with the multinational force that is in the country. And that is what sovereignty means to us.
She also discusses the creation of and expected efficacy of the new internal security forces, the nature of the insurgency, the believed existance of WMDs, the neccesity of removing Saddam and his sons from power.

Read the rest of this interview with this very composed and well spoken lady. The transcript includes pictures of the interview.
Posted by: Zayphar / 7/16/2004 06:18:00 AM
Comments:
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Doug,

Your are right that the question of whether or not removing Saddam was justified is the more significant point. We will succeed in Iraq, and success will make converts of the public.

I was trying to puncture one of those annoying petty misstatements of fact (i.e. Iraq is still under occupation), that seem to appear constantly in the news.

Just a point: I consider the laziness and limited views from the mainstream media to be a much more negative impact on society than the politicians and pundits you name. These people are just transitory reflections of the society, not really shaping it at all. On the other hand, an ideological and incompetent media is a fundamentally corrupting influence in our lives. This makes it a much greater danger.

Thanks as always for all your insightful comments.
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# posted by Blogger Zayphar : 8:49 AM
 
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