Judging from his private statements, the single most important element in Saddam’s strategic calculus was his faith that France and Russia would prevent an invasion by the United States. According to Aziz, Saddam’s confidence was firmly rooted in his belief in the nexus between the economic interests of France and Russia and his own strategic goals: “France and Russia each secured millions of dollars worth of trade and service contracts in Iraq, with the implied understanding that their political posture with regard to sanctions on Iraq would be pro-Iraqi. In addition, the French wanted sanctions lifted to safeguard their trade and service contracts in Iraq. Moreover, they wanted to prove their importance in the world as members of the Security Council — that they could use their veto to show they still had power.”
Yep. Today’s antiwar movement: tools of the international oil companies and arms traders.
They have to be someone’s tools, as they clearly lack any ability to work with facts and thereby come to their own conclusions.
The New York Times has an editorial slamming the Administration for their
accommodation of the mining industry — notably by packing the mine safety agencies with pro-management appointees — has produced a marked decline in major fines for negligent companies. A recent data analysis by The Times documented a risky, business-friendly downturn in penalties since 2001.
Sadly, the professional journalists at the Times couldn’t so the five minutes of research that would have told them that - with the exception of an outlier to date this year - deaths under the Bush Administration are significantly lower than those under pro-labor Clinton.
Go back and read my old post (linked above) and marvel at the diligence of our national newspaper of record.
At least this time, the facts weren’t from an article previously published in the NY Times.