Posted by: Eric on April 20, 19103 at 22:19:11 In Reply to: Consequences, intended or otherwise posted by Rich on April 20, 19103 at 21:27:18

Rich,

This was a good, thoughtful post. I appreciate you posting your thoughts in this way. I will try to respond with as much decorum, although i may not succeed.

1)The fact that we have not found WMD's in Iraq is very important. Bush, Powell, et al, told us before the war that they knew for a fact that these weapons existed, that they had detailed intelligence on this matter that they wished they could share with us. This is no longer believable. If they had such detailed intel. they should have been able to go right to the source as soon as they controlled the territory. I have heard no plausible explanation how this could be the case. Why is this so important? Because I think that even if you think this was a good, just war, I think you should find it very very disturbing that your president and his staff were willing to lie to you about what they claimed to know in order to muster support for the war. this is simply not how policy can or should be made in an open democracy. Its just wrong.

2)Did Saddam support international terrorism as you say? Yes, certainly he did. Did he support it more than Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and other countries that are supposed to be our friends? Highly doubtful.

3)Saddam was a viscious dictator, there is no question about that. Will the iraqi people be better off with him gone? Only time will tell. I certainly hope so, but i am much less sanguine than you are about this. Our track record on these matters is just too damn poor. (we, after all, are the ones who helped him get into power, and we now look like we want to help Chalabi, a man with a proven record of helping himself to public assests, come into power next).

More important: Why are we not helping the opressed people of all the other brutal dictators around the globe, like in Burma? why so much humanitarian sympathy for the people of iraq?

4)Will the end result be a less threatening world? I hope so at least as much as you do, I assure you. But again, I am less sanguine. Making Iraq into a country that is less likely to harbour terrorists then it was before will be long hard work. We will have to establish order there for at least five years, maybe ten. I dont see us making the commitment. We have already failed to make that commitment in Afghanistan, and that is a much smaller project.

Occupying Iraq for long enough to create a stable peaceful democratic society will be very very costly, not only in dollars but in the lives of american servicemen too. Look at how successful Hezbolla was in resisting the israeli occupation of Lebanon. this is likely to be similar, in the opinion of many experts on the region. Week in and week out, there may be little attacks on small pockets of military personel, that will wound three, or kill two, and the guerillas will blend back into the general population. The more we try to put down these little attacks, the more we will inadvertently harrass innocent bystanders, who will in turn become more and more hostile to the american occupation. will this be worth the cost? Maybe, but i doubt that the american public will have the patience for this. More likely, we will end up leaving Iraq in the same state as we have left Afghanistan and Kosovo, a big lawless mess.

5)I simply do not think that we will ever solve the general problem that we are facing until we put pressure on israel to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in the occupied territories. Perhaps the problem is insoluable. On some days i think it is. But we still must try. So long as I see an administration that is willing to stand by a watch isreal try to solve that problem by brute force, I am skeptical that i am looking at an adminstration that has a practical plan to end the general state of insanity that the world now finds itself in.

6)One last point. Here, we may simply have a difference of values, not simply of opinions. I too want americans to be safe. I want that for my family and it want it for yours too. But I am not willing to put the safety of americans way way above the safety, dignity, and well being of all the other citizens of this planet. I simply dont sleep that well at night knowing that my freedom, security, and economic success (that Art thinks I believe comes cheaply) is being paid for with the blood and suffering of other people around the world. If that is upatriotic, then so be it. If patriotism means supporting america at any cost to non-americans, then i am not a patriot.

Read the Follow Ups: Letter from Serbia Eric 09:41:01 4/21/103 (0)

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