reply to post by blocula
Yup. 30 years ago, the Iranian Hostage crisis was still fresh in American minds. Saddam wasn't losing any love aimed at Iran, either. I suspect he
just wanted their oil fields (he had a history of that sort of thing, you know), and conversely Iran wanted the Iraqi oil fields. Having a common
adversary was grounds in those days for tenuous entanglements.
As I've pointed out, times change, people change, relationships change. I have a friend that was a POW of the Germans in WWII. They pulled him
half-dead out of a snow bank and slapped him into a stalag for the duration. 30 years later, he was back in Germany for a reunion, drinking good
German beer with he same two soldiers who captured him, and reminiscing about the old days, happy that they had all survived it. 30 years ago I killed
communists for a living, and they did a grand job of trying to kill me, too. Now I sit down with them and try to work out ways for everybody to get
along without all the useless killing. Some times, beer is involved in those talks, too.
30 years ago, hair bands were all the rage, and America was desperately trying to shake off the after effects of the disco debacle. 30 years ago,
everyone had nukes (LOTS of nukes) pointed at every one else, and was making a lot of noise about how they weren't afraid to use them. 30 years ago,
if an American drove a Japanese vehicle, it was considered damn near treason.30 years ago, if you had told me that the Soviet Union was going to
collapse in less than 10 years, and that the Berlin Wall would be a footnote in history, or if you had told me there would be a reunified Germany, I
would have laughed in your face, and possibly have made a psychiatric appointment for you.
Times change, people change, situations change. Everything is fluid, nothing stays the same. Today's ally may be tomorrow's enemy. Today's enemy may
be tomorrow's partner.
It's the way of life, and that photo was from 1983.
edit on 2011/12/24 by nenothtu because: (no reason given)
Those gents ain't got nothing on a ticked-off woman! 
