In both situations you had evil dictators with total control over their nations populace. OK thats fair.

Now in both nations you had nations which acted agressively against weaker nations. Iraq was somewhat less successful in subduing Kuwait but Saddam's objectives were the same as Stalins were in subduing Finland, the Baltic States and Part of Poland in 1939.

Now finally you have both nations invaded by a foreign power. USSR was invaded by Hitler, Iraq was invaded by the US. No, I am not comparing Bush to Hitler but...

Whenever a country is invaded by a foreign nation, no matter how evil their leaders are, the call to defend ones nation will awaken the nationalistic spirits in that country.

Stalin was not loved by his people. In fact they were scared to death by his very image. Yet during WW 2 all segments of Russian society, Peasants, Urban Industrial Workers, members of the intellegencia, and even the Russian Orthodox Church flocked to his side. Even the exiled leader of the "White" Russians, General Denikan voiced his support for Stalin. It goes to show how strong a force nationalism can be.

Also note that those who collaborated with Hitler were not always believers in fascism. General Vlasov, who led a group of Russians in support of Hitlers war objectives spoke of building a new Russia along Social-Democratic lines. Yet he was strongly condemned by both Stalinists and Nationalistic Russians opposed to Stalin but against the Germans as well. This may be the reason why many members of Vlasov's group including the General himself were rounded up by the western allies and sent back to Russia to face execution or permanant imprisonment in the icey gulags.

Hussein too is hated by his own people. He has killed all enemies, Shiites, Kurds, democratic activists, Islamic Fundamentalists and anyone else thought to be opposed to his rule.

Yet as hated as he is, the War against Iraq has given Iraqis a cause to rally around.

I am reminded of a story about a Union soldier who questioned a Confederate Prisoner. He asked "Why are you here?" and was answered "Because you are here."

there are some comparasions but Iraq and the Soviet Union were in two very different positions in history. Iraq would be considered a minor power during Hussains day but the Soviet Union was one of the two great super powers during it's hayday. Also, Stalin was a lot worse to his own people, killing 30 million, compared to Hussain killing i don't know maybe 1 or 2 million. Don't quote me on Hussains kills becasue i am just throwing out a number and i am not counting the Iraq-Iran war.

Originally posted by mike75
Also, Stalin was a lot worse to his own people, killing 30 million, compared to Hussain killing i don't know maybe 1 or 2 million.

there would also be a whole lot more russians there are, so i'd like to see the numbers in ratio form

of course the numbers saddam has killed and stalin has killed can never and will never be independentally verified

i think a main reason why people are willing to fight for their country when it's under attack, they may work on the theory better the devil you know then the devil you don't

Originally posted by IFF


there would also be a whole lot more russians there are, so i'd like to see the numbers in ratio form

of course the numbers saddam has killed and stalin has killed can never and will never be independentally verified

i think a main reason why people are willing to fight for their country when it's under attack, they may work on the theory better the devil you know then the devil you don't

I agree with you totally and i say most people fight for their own country is because it is their own. People will always fight to keep their house and the life they lead. We saw this vagualy, with World War 2 when Pearl Harbor was bombed. As we saw that people would not really want to fight when it was not that important i.e. Vietnam. And yes i know they were two differerent times.