Reply #44: Saudi Arabia is worse [View All]

[jmowreader]

Remember back when Afghanistan was controlled by the Taliban and how terrible it was for Afghanis? Guess where they got their ideas.

Just think of the Saudis as a slightly milder version of the Taliban--while the Saudis enforce strict segregation of males and females like the Taliban did, the Saudis at least allow children to attend school and women to get medical attention.

The weirdest thing is, while we're running around over there blowing people up attempting to bring democracy to Iraq, what was there before we went in was a strange mix of democracy and totalitarianism. Totalitarian because Saddam's goon squad brutally enforced the official secularity of Iraqi society; democratic because that brutally-enforced secularity meant women could work outside the home, chador was not required dress, Tariq Aziz could be a Christian, schools were integrated (boys and girls sitting next to each other in the same classrooms)...

We all know Saddam was an asshole and ruthless as hell, but of all the dictators in the Middle East he was the least bad. In the part of Iraq he could keep under control, people actually seemed to like the guy.