The Best and Worst Technologies of 2003?

Phoe6 asks: "Last year, at Hexadecimals discussion group we shared a news that Worst Technology of 2002 was TIA (Total Information Awareness by DARPA). What is the Worst Technology of 2003? For the Best, Time Magazine seems to have adjudged Steve Jobs' iTunes as the Invention of 2003. What are your ratings?"

Comments

Re:Worst Technology of 2003

[ripcrd]

Not to get off on a rant, but... /rant What most people choose to ignore here is that the US was going on our best information about the capabilities of the Iraqi defense programs (e.g. bio-weapons, nuke program, chemical weapons). First off, the Clinton administration stripped the CIA, FBI and other investigative units of budget money and people, changed the rules for using/paying informants, lowered our military capability, etc. Then people are surprised when a key item about the possibility of crashing planes into buildings slips through the info gathering cracks or we over-estimate their capabilities. Personally, I don't think it matters now if we find WMDs (they were likely carted over to Syria before we invaded or buried like the tanks and other ordinance we've found).

I think we need to look at the side benefits of the War in Iraq. We now know that Saddam was doing some wicked crap to the people in his country. Some of it religiously motivated, some political, some ethnic, some just mean and cruel so he could have power over his people. Now he can't do it any more. If there is WMD in country, it will be found. The people are free and can elect a more fair gov't without fear. We can act as a stabilizing force in that volatile area. The other volatile countries have an example of what free people are capable of doing. Dictators should be quaking or at least worried. Apparently Quadaffi was worried he was next. Saddam can no longer break his peace agreements he made w/ the UN. The UN can quit its collective hand-wringing over what to do in the middle-east, there's a sheriff in town now. Yes, oil is a factor. Oil production in Iraq is up and maybe at a fair price. Now maybe we won't be held hostage by the oil cartels and the Iraqi people can now rebuild with oil money and not our money. They can rebuild infrastructure, build much needed and neglected hospitals, schools and other social services. They can make better use of the personal palaces of Saddam and his family.

So even if we were wrong about WMD, everybody but Saddam and his cronies are better off.

I've heard the criticism about the US supporting Saddam at a time when it served our purposes, but I think he was a lesser of two evils at the time and we didn't know how bad he would become.
Remember, we played ball with Stalin at a time when we thought Hitler was the greater evil. We didn't know about Stalin's atrocities til later. /end rant