This morning on the BBC, there was a speech about the Iraq conflict in 2003. HERE’S a link.
It irritated me because there was nothing in it that I didn’t know back then.
I got nothing to say about Saddam Hussein. No way am I supporting him here. That’s not my intent. But the US said, “You have WMDs, disarm or we’ll attack”. Iraqq said they didn’t have any WMDs, but every day on CNN they showed Iraq destroying weapons, crushing missiles with front end loaders. To me, it looked like they were trying to comply.
But the US went in there anyway, killed Saddam and found nothing.
I think the whole thing was mainly a personal vendetta by George Bush Jr, because Saddam said he kicked his dads butt. (George Sr’s mission was free Kuwait, which be accomplished. Schwarzkopf wanted to go on into Iraq, and I think George Sr did good, sticking to the mission.
The point is, nothing has caused me to change my initial assessment, or indicate it was wrong.
FIFA:
Five minutes into my first match of the world cup, I knew FIFA was corrupt. I said “Wouldn’t it be great if Costa Rica won?” Everyone said, “Oh they would never let Costa Rica win, Costa Rica doesn’t contribute enough to FIFA, or have the facilities to host a world cup.”
My thought was, “Who are “they“? and what does that have to do with anything, it’s about how well you play futbol, isn’t it?” And I knew they were corrupt. I remember a game where Costa Rica scored first, and the refs turned on them. Giving CR penalties where there were none, and ignoring blatant penalties by the other team.
I knew FIFA was corrupt, apparently each and every fan knew they were corrupt.
A year or so later, everyone at FIFA is busted. Who’s surprised?
I think I’m stupid. I don’t trust my own assessment in almost any situation. I don’t think I can grasp these complex political situations. But in hindsight, I don’t do half bad.
Look at Iraq today. Saddam Hussein wouldn’t have put up with that ISIL crap from the beginning. They wouldn’t be there.
I can’t believe the US has these two ridiculous candidates running for president. What the heck is going on in this world?