So, looks like Iraq is expressing the freedom not to promote freedom.

Under a broad new set of laws criminalizing speech that ridicules the government or its officials, some resurrected verbatim from Saddam Hussein's penal code, roughly a dozen Iraqi journalists have been charged with offending public officials in the past year.

Currently, three journalists for a small newspaper in southeastern Iraq are being tried here for articles last year that accused a provincial governor, local judges and police officials of corruption. The journalists are accused of violating Paragraph 226 of the penal code, which makes anyone who "publicly insults" the government or public officials subject to up to seven years in prison.

On Sept. 7, the police sealed the offices of Al Arabiya, a Dubai-based satellite news channel, for what the government said was inflammatory reporting. And the Committee to Protect Journalists says that at least three Iraqi journalists have served time in prison for writing articles deemed criminally offensive.http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/...0926journo.php

This is so backwards. Iraq is just falling into the same authoritarian state it was under Saddam. What is worse is that religious fundamentalists are now in control. Could this be any more of a massive fuck up than it already is?

Andrew

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Ethanol is a fabulous solution to our energy dilemma because it will provide more fuel for us to drive around and look for food.

-- Unknown

Iraq is just 3 years ahead of our government. Just wait till '09 and the good ole USA will be passing such laws. I hope the Iraqi government starts exporting democracy.

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Is our children learning? -George W. Bush

"I think—tide turning—see, as I remember—I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of—it's easy to see a tide turn—did I say those words?"—Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

"[T]he illiteracy level of our children are appalling."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004

History shows that you cannot force a democracy on a country by war.

Yes, but history also shows us that no one is going to stop trying.

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"Anyone that needs what they want, and doesn’t want what they need
I want nothing to do with
And to do what I want
And to do what I please
Is first on my to-do list"
-Gnarls Barkley, "Going On" lyrics

How Chavez-like of them.

Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

Took the words out of my mouth Matt. Also seems like a silly law when 150 people are being tortured in killed by militia death-squads tit-for-tat daily there. They are worried about insulting reporters??!! It's like brushing your teeth really well but ignoring that gangrene on your leg.

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Don't startle him, Joe - it's almost full!

History is so stupid.

On the contrary, this is just showing how Americanized the Iraqi government is getting and how fine a job we are doing by staying the course..

Perhaps some policy-makers hope that this law will discourage reporters from publicizing the amount of violence occurring.

__________________
No man is an island...
Each man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in Mankind.
And therefore, never send to know
For whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
—John Donne

You might be able to. I think it would be more accurate to say that history shows you cannot enforce democracy by war on a country without a sizeable and educated middle class.

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

Freedom is on the March.
Or as John Stewart put it, "Bush is attaching the electrodes of Freedom to the testicles of Terror"

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“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address

Now that this has happened in addition to the fact that the Iraqi Constitution is strongly Islamic and that there is now MORE torture in Iraq, I take it we can drop the "we invaded to liberate the Iraqi people" line of bullshit. With the WMDs line already dropped and the "to stop terrorism" clearly revealed to be wrong (actually INCREASED terrorism), what excuse is being pushed by the right in an attempt to justify the war? Anyone who supports the war is encouraged to answer.

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If a neocon whines about big government wealth redistribution, just ask him what he thinks about the portion of that big government that sends aid to Israel.

100% agreed. Something is up. Not even during the Cold War when there was very serious nuclear threat, we never stooped this far down as we have done now for one major event that traumatized Americans.

Here's something to look forward to. This is some serious scary shit. When I read this I get the chills just knowing where we are headed.

http://www.909shot.com/ActionAlerts/...ed_to_know.htm

That is damn scary. You might as well learn about American future.



http://www.mercola.com/2001/dec/26/mehpa.htm

http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/HL748.cfm

This is some serious shit.

Really? Care to cite the US law that bans criticism of the government?

Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

Whew...hasn't even been proposed in my state.