All things Middle East related

NC_Skins

Riiiiiight....lol

__________________
"So let me get this straight. We have the event of the year on TV with millions watching around the world... and people want a punt, pass, and kick competition to be the halftime entertainment?? Folks, don't quit your day jobs."- Matty

RedskinRat

We know because we sold them the stuff when they were fighting with Iran.

IBD

In 2006, former Iraqi general Georges Sada, second in command of the Iraqi Air Force who served under Saddam Hussein before he defected, wrote a comprehensive book, "Saddam's Secrets."
It details how the Iraqi Revolutionary Guard moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria in advance of the U.S.-led action to eliminate Hussein's WMD threat.
As Sada told the New York Sun, two Iraqi Airways Boeings were converted to cargo planes by removing the seats, and special Republican Guard units loaded the planes with chemical weapons materials.

Old news, I know, but please feel free to keep laughing.

RedskinRat

UAE: Why would anyone with any self-respect choose to work there?

A British woman who was allegedly kidnapped and gang raped by three men in Dubai has been prosecuted for drinking without a licence, throwing a spotlight on the United Arab Emirates’ archaic legal system, which rights groups say does not do enough to protect victims of sexual assault.

Sick society.

That Guy

why do most people work there? the money. 200k+ wasn't that hard to get there not that long ago.

UAE is sort of a weird place though. you have 7 different emirates, lots of oil money and basically 2 social classes. the emiraties (10%), that are stupid rich (they get gifted hundreds of thousands for turning 18 etc, i think all their officers are millionaires), and the working class (mainly immigrants) that do a lot of the shop keeping etc type stuff.

i mean, in the last 5 years their population doubled, and the 10 before that it doubled again, so i imagine the legal system hasn't quite kept up, though it's still based more on middle eastern principles that we find a bit outdated.

not excusing what happened, egypt has had the same issues since the 70s, but dubai is probably the closest/most american friendly places you'll find over in that part of the world.

__________________
Who says shameless self promotion is stupid? oh yeah, that was me... Click For Tunes!

RedskinRat

I guess I'm not that into money.

Chico23231

Pentagon to send missiles, 400 troops to Turkey - Yahoo! News

first step taken.

__________________
Ready for the Draft.

KLHJ2

I am not sure about those who work in the UAE, but in several other locations in the Middle East U.S. contractors etc. are exempt from paying federal taxes on that money. Combine that with the fact that most of the time you are confined to a compound and really have nothing to spend your money on. It's a great way to save up a nice little nest egg.

Once again I am not claiming to know if this is the case in the UAE, but it is in places like Iraq and Afghanistan and formerly in places like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. I believe that we no longer have a presence in the latter 2, but I could be wrong. If we do have a presence it's not as large as it once was.

__________________
Read "The Book", life will gain meaning.

That Guy

List of United States Army installations in Kuwait - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

still there.

__________________
Who says shameless self promotion is stupid? oh yeah, that was me... Click For Tunes!

KLHJ2

I was at Doha at one time. I was under the Impression that we had withdrawn from or were in the process of withdrawing from Kuwait because we had such a strong presence in Iraq. The necessity for occupation in Kuwait became questionable. I haven't worked for DOD in over a year, so I haven't paid much attention to what has transpired in that period of time.

__________________
Read "The Book", life will gain meaning.

That Guy

nah, kuwait's a friendly, we'll be there in some form forever. that's just how we do, i guess.

__________________
Who says shameless self promotion is stupid? oh yeah, that was me... Click For Tunes!

RedskinRat

Turkey, WTF?!?

On Friday, January 11, a Turkish citizen took a picture to show exactly how belligerent Turkey has become. The picture is of a huge poster with the words, “Who Would You Like to Meet if You Could?” and the last name, and only photograph, is of Adolf Hitler. The other choices include Suleiman I, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Napolean Bonaparte, the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Vladimir Lenin, Boris Yeltsin, Leonardo Da Vinci, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Jackson. But only Hitler warranted a picture, a huge one at that.

Schwarzenegger? Dafuq?!? Oh, and that other Austrian....

That Guy

that's pretty random. we have lots of people in the US that think hilter is a role model, so you might as well throw USA, wtf? in there too.

some people have poor taste, some poor judgement, and some are just idiots. I mean, i think that's pretty weird and wrong, but i think that stuff happens in a lot of places, not just turkey.

__________________
Who says shameless self promotion is stupid? oh yeah, that was me... Click For Tunes!

That Guy

sorry this is late, but a lot of countries out there like having us around. it means that if they get attacked, the US gets attacked too. good port of entry, and i'm sure someone's making money or getting access to part of the US arsenal.

__________________
Who says shameless self promotion is stupid? oh yeah, that was me... Click For Tunes!