9th April 2003, 6:06 PM
See my post where I listed all those countries abusing their people? I'd say that half of them are worse than Iraq... want to invade Saudi Arabia or China next?
The point is we can dislike what they are doing and want them to stop, but to do so we should stay within the legal bounds of international law and actually give it a chance to work... when you dismiss it as obviously as Bush did, of course people will be angry with you and not go along with what you want...
I never said Sadaam isn't evil... I just said that Bush isn't going to war to "save the Iraqis" any more than we went to war in Afghanistan to "save the Afdhanis". As in the only relevance it seems to have to him is to get more points on his popularity polls.
Because if he were really going after the worst regimes to their people Iraq wouldn't be second on the list.
No, Iraq is about "terrorism", oil, helping friends and donors, and keeping polls up... don't fool yourself into thinking that this administration cares about the people. Or any administration. Because the US has supported or ignored stuff far, far worse than this (and continues to do that in many countries around the world) to make that a valid point...
There is the fact that it is hard to get stuff through the UN because all nations are in it and some will protect other ones that violate rights... like China does with Korea, or the Arab nations all do for eachother... but what we should do is do all we can -- actually work IN the UN. Be a good member. Pay our dues... act like the world does matter. And eventually we will see results... and will get some stuff through to try to discourage 'bad' nations... and once you have some of that, CONCRETE UN resolutions, you can do more... sanctions, whatever...
And supporting the UN Peacekeepers would help a lot too. They do a very important job, and its stupid to say that we should just use our troops in war. I'd think that PREVENTING WARS FROM EVER BEING NECESSARY would matter to people, and that's what a good application of peacekeepers can do... that wouldn't work in Iraq of course (there, beefed up inspections were the way to go), but in many places (read: AFGHANISTAN) it'd help a LOT...
But what we are doing -- acting essentially alone, with little international support and no popular support outside of our country -- is dangerous to both our standing in the world and the future of the world... the bad effects are already being seen...
The point is we can dislike what they are doing and want them to stop, but to do so we should stay within the legal bounds of international law and actually give it a chance to work... when you dismiss it as obviously as Bush did, of course people will be angry with you and not go along with what you want...
I never said Sadaam isn't evil... I just said that Bush isn't going to war to "save the Iraqis" any more than we went to war in Afghanistan to "save the Afdhanis". As in the only relevance it seems to have to him is to get more points on his popularity polls.
Because if he were really going after the worst regimes to their people Iraq wouldn't be second on the list.
No, Iraq is about "terrorism", oil, helping friends and donors, and keeping polls up... don't fool yourself into thinking that this administration cares about the people. Or any administration. Because the US has supported or ignored stuff far, far worse than this (and continues to do that in many countries around the world) to make that a valid point...
There is the fact that it is hard to get stuff through the UN because all nations are in it and some will protect other ones that violate rights... like China does with Korea, or the Arab nations all do for eachother... but what we should do is do all we can -- actually work IN the UN. Be a good member. Pay our dues... act like the world does matter. And eventually we will see results... and will get some stuff through to try to discourage 'bad' nations... and once you have some of that, CONCRETE UN resolutions, you can do more... sanctions, whatever...
And supporting the UN Peacekeepers would help a lot too. They do a very important job, and its stupid to say that we should just use our troops in war. I'd think that PREVENTING WARS FROM EVER BEING NECESSARY would matter to people, and that's what a good application of peacekeepers can do... that wouldn't work in Iraq of course (there, beefed up inspections were the way to go), but in many places (read: AFGHANISTAN) it'd help a LOT...
But what we are doing -- acting essentially alone, with little international support and no popular support outside of our country -- is dangerous to both our standing in the world and the future of the world... the bad effects are already being seen...
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