Deep Thoughts On The Arab Spring

Let’s say that after 9/11, the United States DOESN’T invade Iraq. Would there have been a popular uprising against Saddam Hussein in Baghdad?

Author: Stephen LaRose

2006 winner of the Canadian Association of University Teachers's Award of Excellence in Journalism for a bunch of prairie dog stuff. Invited into the best homes in Regina. Once.

3 thoughts on “Deep Thoughts On The Arab Spring”

  1. Perhaps, but I think Baathist repression would’ve been as bad, if not worse, than Iran’s reaction against popular protest during the 2009 Presidental elections and we saw a little bit of street protest this spring (sic– it was more like February). H.W. Bush encouraged the Iraqi people to rise up and overthrow Hussein at the end of the Gulf War, and we all know what happened with that.

  2. On the whole, I don’t think Saddam’s Iraq was all that oppressive against the average citizen. Against the Kurds, who he hated like Nazis hated Hebrews, yes, oppressive, but I’m not sure it was all that bad in average Iraq, from what I’ve heard. Certainly wasn’t an oppressive theocracy like many of the other states in the middle east.

  3. Well, Talbot, are the Kurds not Iraqis? Granted, they wanted and still want independence, but under Hussein they were definitely “average citizens.”

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