The war in Iraq
Well I wasn't against the war to begin with. I never thought of political borders as a shelter from crimes against humanity (that includes Sudan and Rwanda). The world does need a police, but unfortunately the security council is improperly designed to function as one.
My problem with the war in Iraq was the leadership and then (obviously) the execution. The "Bush rational" (lol) was wrong and flawed. The very notion of spreading democracy is idiotic. It's a great sound-bite but it's nonsense. You can only alleviate (severe) oppression and replace it with a lighter (non-fatal) oppression that has room to change to democracy by a popular movement. In talking about the war three things are critical: I think the original sin was not over-thowing Saddam in the first gulf war, the war was completely improperly executed and there was a failure in the international community o come up with a solution.
The discussion about this issue are often for-the-war vs against-the-war. The matter is far more complex than that. Currently the U.S. is at war and so there are two separate discussion: should we have gone in and what do we do now. The anti-war movement is nuts to be talking about stopping the war and similarly the Bush guys are equally myoptic to say stay the course. The current course is not winning fast enough (as was foretold by the generals who were dismissed before the war) and so you must redouble your efforts not stay the course! If your police department is being out gunned do you tell them to pack it in and forget about it? Nonsense!
As for the rational, crimes against humanity should be enough. Granted the world is not a nice place and there would probably be more war with this rational but it's still logical. The problem is it must be done with world resolve. The anti-war movement must come to realize was is sometimes necessary and if Saddam crimes weren't enough then I think the bar is too high.
Some neat stuff: Hitchens on C-Span and Cindy Sheehan's Jewish Conspiracy
My problem with the war in Iraq was the leadership and then (obviously) the execution. The "Bush rational" (lol) was wrong and flawed. The very notion of spreading democracy is idiotic. It's a great sound-bite but it's nonsense. You can only alleviate (severe) oppression and replace it with a lighter (non-fatal) oppression that has room to change to democracy by a popular movement. In talking about the war three things are critical: I think the original sin was not over-thowing Saddam in the first gulf war, the war was completely improperly executed and there was a failure in the international community o come up with a solution.
The discussion about this issue are often for-the-war vs against-the-war. The matter is far more complex than that. Currently the U.S. is at war and so there are two separate discussion: should we have gone in and what do we do now. The anti-war movement is nuts to be talking about stopping the war and similarly the Bush guys are equally myoptic to say stay the course. The current course is not winning fast enough (as was foretold by the generals who were dismissed before the war) and so you must redouble your efforts not stay the course! If your police department is being out gunned do you tell them to pack it in and forget about it? Nonsense!
As for the rational, crimes against humanity should be enough. Granted the world is not a nice place and there would probably be more war with this rational but it's still logical. The problem is it must be done with world resolve. The anti-war movement must come to realize was is sometimes necessary and if Saddam crimes weren't enough then I think the bar is too high.
Some neat stuff: Hitchens on C-Span and Cindy Sheehan's Jewish Conspiracy
posted by Eddie | 11:43 PM
2 Comments:
I'm not saying the Iraq war makes sense, but let's not blame it all on Bush and his father. Overthrowing Hussein in '91 was not part of the plan because the UN specifically sanctioned the liberation of Kuwait but not any invasion of Iraq itself. Then the UN spent over 10 years doing nothing while the people of Iraq continued to live under a dictatorship.
It's pretty obvious that trying to do these things through international consensus is a waste of time. There are many things we can rightly critisize about the war, but I don't think that invading without UN approval was one of them. That's the biggest problem most people (both on the right and the left) have with the war, but it's the least of my concerns.
For once I completely agree. The failure of (this) Bush was the execution and planning. The failure of the UN and world community was (and is) how they let this shit go on and on. The orginal sin is the UNs. It's just sad that after Rwanda, Kosovo etc we can still ignore the problem in the name of peace!?! Public opinion must be shown the hardship of the citizens (as objectively as possible) and then public opinion will decide what is worth interviening in. Although other have pointed out that with an uneducated population that is dangerous, but I think its better than the alternative.
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