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Congressman pushing West-style cellphones on post-war Iraq

I think this is just more proof that some people in our government aren't genuinely concerned with the welfare of the Iraqi people and more concerned with American businesses getting a piece.

First, I think its a bit premature to be talking about cellphones when food is in short supply for their people. Second, the standard the congressman is pushing clearly favors US companies and would be a disadvantage to the Iraqi consumers (all surrounding countries use a different standard).

This is just another example of the US trying to make a decision that the Iraqi people are going to have to live with.

Taft
 
Double edge sword. You'd rather every dime go to Europe? She'd rather every dime come to us, you know, the ones spending 70 BILLION on liberating them. Think of it as compensation. France and Germany are against the war in iRaq, why allow them to profit off these people when we spent billions liberating them?
 
Bush's post-war "rebuilding" of Iraq has disaster written all over it. He seems determined to give contracts to cronies like Halliburton. What's worse, when pressed why he had only earmarked only $2B for reconstruction of Iraq in his war budget, he said "Iraqi oil will pay for it".

Now let's think about that for a minute here. Iraqis will see billions of dollars flowing to American companies. I'll say this right now: it doesn't really matter if Halliburton is doing good work or how good Bush's intentions are, Americans will be seen as plundering Iraq's oil.

I have never seen a President and an administration more blind to how his actions are perceived. I mean jeez, doesn't he have advisers to give him a dose of reality? The problem is that Bush the "CEO President" picked his entire staff for their loyalty and commitment to his conservative causes, which has led to a disastrous "group think" phenomenon. And Bush keeps making bigger and bigger mistakes. Can someone please tell me anything Bush and his cabal have done right? Off the top of my head all I can see are disasters.
 
Originally posted by Kid Red
Double edge sword. You'd rather every dime go to Europe? She'd rather every dime come to us, you know, the ones spending 70 BILLION on liberating them. Think of it as compensation. France and Germany are against the war in iRaq, why allow them to profit off these people when we spent billions liberating them?
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I think this is very naive and over-simplistic thinking (which unfortunately the Bush administration seems to agree with). You have to remember that British and U.S. interests controlled Middle East oil for decades, and the memory of this period means that any significant amount of Iraqi oil profits going to Anglo-American companies will be seen as colonial exploitation, even if the money is going to reconstruction.

If Bush were really savvy he'd be hiring companies from friendly or at least semi-friendly Arab states, to prove the point that this was is not about colonial domination. But it's becoming abundantly clear that we just don't have a savvy president or administration.
 
Originally posted by Kid Red
Double edge sword. You'd rather every dime go to Europe? She'd rather every dime come to us, you know, the ones spending 70 BILLION on liberating them. Think of it as compensation. France and Germany are against the war in iRaq, why allow them to profit off these people when we spent billions liberating them?
Click to expand...

But why should we be worried about who gets the contract? Shouldn't this be about what is in the best interests of the Iraqi people?

Guess not, huh? Its all about snubbing France and Germany because they snubbed us, right?

Taft
 
Ever heard of the statement "to the victor goes the spoils". Yea, the Iraqi people are the most important issue here. But, reality is that we are LIBERATING them. Why would we sacrifice our troops, and 75 Billion dollars of our taxpayers money and then let the French come in to post war Iraq, and mop up in contracts? That is insane! Think about it. The entire notion is laughable.


Hey, we took care of Saddam. Hey France we know you refused to UPHOLD YOUR OBLIGATION to the world. That's ok, lets go hug trees, and tell you what you guys can have all the communications contracts in Iraq.

Laughable.
 
Originally posted by Backtothemac
Ever heard of the statement "to the victor goes the spoils". Yea, the Iraqi people are the most important issue here. But, reality is that we are LIBERATING them. Why would we sacrifice our troops, and 75 Billion dollars of our taxpayers money and then let the French come in to post war Iraq, and mop up in contracts? That is insane! Think about it. The entire notion is laughable.


Hey, we took care of Saddam. Hey France we know you refused to UPHOLD YOUR OBLIGATION to the world. That's ok, lets go hug trees, and tell you what you guys can have all the communications contracts in Iraq.

Laughable.
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Or is it laughable that we are "liberating" a country and then making all of their decisions for them.

Why is it that the contracts don't go to corporations commited to esablishing Iraqi jobs and economic feasibility? Why is it that we are even deciding how to build the country? Shouldn't that be the work of the newly established democratic government?

Or wait, they might not pick Halliburton and other American firms, so we can't allow that, right?

Laughable indeed. :rolleyes:

Taft
 
So, let me get this straight: your husband is hitting you, so I am entitled (without any evidence) to smash your front door, wreck your house, kill your husband, accidentally kill your children too, rip out your telephone and other services, then I arrange for my guys to come in and fix everything up the way they want to and to their specification, and hand you the bill. And you are supposed to be grateful? :confused: Am I missing something?
 
Originally posted by Backtothemac
Ever heard of the statement "to the victor goes the spoils".
Click to expand...

It's attitudes like this that are just going to lead to terrorism and guerilla attacks that are going to end up costing thousands of American lives. Realize these countries have been colonized before. If we give even a hint of "spoils of war" attitude, the rage we will see in Iraq and all over the region will be unlike anything we have ever seen.

Look, this is the problem with Bush. There's a savvy way to do things and a dumb, counterproductive way to do things. The world is terrified of Bush not so because of his actions, per se, but rather because of his attitude. Even if he has those attudeds, he could be a bit more discreet and sensitive about how his words and deeds might be perceived.
 
w/o getting into the political ramifications (must.... try....), CDMA is a dead technology. GSM isn't just a european standard, it's available in the US.

i'm all for US companies adopting GSM. my GSM phone works here and through lots o' europe. if i ever visit iraq, i'd like it to work there, too.
 
Originally posted by Taft
First, I think its a bit premature to be talking about cellphones when food is in short supply for their people.
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I don't think it's very premature. Which is an easier communications infrastructure to setup and maintain cell phones + cell towers or regular phones and millions of miles of phone lines, poles, etc.,? When I spent time traveling Europe a few years ago I was amazed at the number of cell phones people had and one of reasons is that it is cheaper and easier to build a celluar infrastructure than it is a traditional telephone infrastructure.

I do think that pushing the CDMA over GSM is kinda dumb though. I wonder who she gets campaign $$$ from? ;)


Lethal
 
Originally posted by LethalWolfe
I don't think it's very premature. Which is an easier communications infrastructure to setup and maintain cell phones + cell towers or regular phones and millions of miles of phone lines, poles, etc.,? When I spent time traveling Europe a few years ago I was amazed at the number of cell phones people had and one of reasons is that it is cheaper and easier to build a celluar infrastructure than it is a traditional telephone infrastructure.
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This would be a valid argument if Iraq didn't already have a cell phone and landline system.
 
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