20th March 2003, 1:10 AM
The fact large numbers of people (in the general public, etc) defend this war is insane...
Is Sadaam a brutal dictator? Yes. However, there are a lot of dictators who do bad things to their people in the world. We do NOT go in and kill those ones... in fact for decades, it was US policy to fully support brutal dictators who murdered their own people just so that nations wouldn't "fall to the commies"... even (or more accurately especially) when those communists were popularly elected...
Do I see the US sending the army into Myanmar? Zimbabwe? Saudi Arabia? Iran? North Korea? Cuba? Syria? Lybia? Sudan? Or plenty of other nations in Africa and the Middle East? Nope... and they shouldn't unless those nations directly threaten us in a strong way, and act on it. Sadaam has not met that...
Its all well and good to say "I am fighting for democracy and to bring freedom to the opressed". But in this case that remark rings very hollow... its VERY clear that "freedom" or "releif of dictators" has nothing to do with it or we would have seen plenty of other interventions into dictatorships that would fall a lot easier... so you must look elsewhere... and I will maintain that gas stands out VERY clearly as the primary reason for this war.
And going to war to secure the 300 million or so barrels of oil that are in Iraq is both irresponsible and insane... and the rest of the world sees that.
Do I realize that public opinions are always faulty? Well yeah... people in foreign countries are subject to probaganda too...but when it is as incredibly unilateral as this dislike of the war and, in particular, the extreme dislike for Bush, it does have to say SOMETHING. If it was some nations it wouldn't mean much... but when it is ALMOST EVERY OTHER NATION IN THE WORLD, it does iwthout question... and the lack of effectiveness of Bush at 'selling' this war, his OBVIOUS disdain and dislike for Europeans (and anyone else who isn't American... especially if they disagree with him...) shows how utterly inept he is at foreign policy.
It just isn't sane to go to war after failing as completely as Bush did at convincing much of anyone who didn't already agree with him that he had a ounce of sense in his argument... and Bush HAS failed that completly. Why? I've already said most of the reasons... his cowboy attitude, his cavalier way that he treats everyone else's opinions, the way he clealry wants to innapropriately flaunt America's position as a superpower in the face of whatever anyone else thinks, the way he completely dismisses the opinions of anyone who disagrees with him... its truly awful.
There is one thing that really stands out. President Bush is a man with very strong convictions. He has opinions and believes in them utterly... and that doesn't sound so bad, until you relalize HOW utterly that is. To Bush, he is RIGHT. He clearly has NO doubt in his mind that he is RIGHT and everyone else (like the huge number of foreign leaders and peoples who disagree with him) are WRONG. So he dismisses their opinions offhand, insults them ("old europe"), and then goes off with his buddies on his way to the shootout at the Iraq Corral...
And seeing that is really awful. Especially when I know what the result will be of all this...
Now... will we win this war that seems to now have started? Easily? Yeah, probably... Iraq isn't exactly in a place it can resist much... so what will happen afterwards? I will be VERY intrerested to see... if Bush actually keeps any of his promises ("Democracy for the Iraqi People", "The oil is for the Iraqi people", etc), I will be VERY surprised. Bush has already shown in his current and past foreign and domestic policy that a promise made is a promise ignored, and I fully expect that to continue...
Or does anyone remember how he was the "Education President"? Who is now slashing education? Or how he would "Rebuild Afghanistan"? And has not given any money or forces to do that? Oh, and let's not forget how he'd "help New York (with money) after 9/11"... nothing...
I fully expect that Iraq will be another failure of Bush foreign policy. He will win the war, give the oil contracts to big multinationals, tell the UN to send in some troops to peacekeep, maybe begin to change things... and then leave it and hope that other people deal with the aftermath.
After all with our budget problem (which he is hoping he can greatly help to stay in the dumps with those tax cuts he wants), there just isn't the money for those useless peacekeeper...
Hey, at least he could keep THAT campaign promise... he DID say that he didn't want any US troops peacekeeping anywhere in the world...
Is Sadaam a brutal dictator? Yes. However, there are a lot of dictators who do bad things to their people in the world. We do NOT go in and kill those ones... in fact for decades, it was US policy to fully support brutal dictators who murdered their own people just so that nations wouldn't "fall to the commies"... even (or more accurately especially) when those communists were popularly elected...
Do I see the US sending the army into Myanmar? Zimbabwe? Saudi Arabia? Iran? North Korea? Cuba? Syria? Lybia? Sudan? Or plenty of other nations in Africa and the Middle East? Nope... and they shouldn't unless those nations directly threaten us in a strong way, and act on it. Sadaam has not met that...
Its all well and good to say "I am fighting for democracy and to bring freedom to the opressed". But in this case that remark rings very hollow... its VERY clear that "freedom" or "releif of dictators" has nothing to do with it or we would have seen plenty of other interventions into dictatorships that would fall a lot easier... so you must look elsewhere... and I will maintain that gas stands out VERY clearly as the primary reason for this war.
And going to war to secure the 300 million or so barrels of oil that are in Iraq is both irresponsible and insane... and the rest of the world sees that.
Do I realize that public opinions are always faulty? Well yeah... people in foreign countries are subject to probaganda too...but when it is as incredibly unilateral as this dislike of the war and, in particular, the extreme dislike for Bush, it does have to say SOMETHING. If it was some nations it wouldn't mean much... but when it is ALMOST EVERY OTHER NATION IN THE WORLD, it does iwthout question... and the lack of effectiveness of Bush at 'selling' this war, his OBVIOUS disdain and dislike for Europeans (and anyone else who isn't American... especially if they disagree with him...) shows how utterly inept he is at foreign policy.
It just isn't sane to go to war after failing as completely as Bush did at convincing much of anyone who didn't already agree with him that he had a ounce of sense in his argument... and Bush HAS failed that completly. Why? I've already said most of the reasons... his cowboy attitude, his cavalier way that he treats everyone else's opinions, the way he clealry wants to innapropriately flaunt America's position as a superpower in the face of whatever anyone else thinks, the way he completely dismisses the opinions of anyone who disagrees with him... its truly awful.
There is one thing that really stands out. President Bush is a man with very strong convictions. He has opinions and believes in them utterly... and that doesn't sound so bad, until you relalize HOW utterly that is. To Bush, he is RIGHT. He clearly has NO doubt in his mind that he is RIGHT and everyone else (like the huge number of foreign leaders and peoples who disagree with him) are WRONG. So he dismisses their opinions offhand, insults them ("old europe"), and then goes off with his buddies on his way to the shootout at the Iraq Corral...
And seeing that is really awful. Especially when I know what the result will be of all this...
Now... will we win this war that seems to now have started? Easily? Yeah, probably... Iraq isn't exactly in a place it can resist much... so what will happen afterwards? I will be VERY intrerested to see... if Bush actually keeps any of his promises ("Democracy for the Iraqi People", "The oil is for the Iraqi people", etc), I will be VERY surprised. Bush has already shown in his current and past foreign and domestic policy that a promise made is a promise ignored, and I fully expect that to continue...
Or does anyone remember how he was the "Education President"? Who is now slashing education? Or how he would "Rebuild Afghanistan"? And has not given any money or forces to do that? Oh, and let's not forget how he'd "help New York (with money) after 9/11"... nothing...
I fully expect that Iraq will be another failure of Bush foreign policy. He will win the war, give the oil contracts to big multinationals, tell the UN to send in some troops to peacekeep, maybe begin to change things... and then leave it and hope that other people deal with the aftermath.
After all with our budget problem (which he is hoping he can greatly help to stay in the dumps with those tax cuts he wants), there just isn't the money for those useless peacekeeper...
Hey, at least he could keep THAT campaign promise... he DID say that he didn't want any US troops peacekeeping anywhere in the world...
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