So, given that attitude, one might conclude that the fate of the oppressed within a foreign country was of no concern whatsoever to the average European or many Americans.
This goes far toward explaining why the United Nations has proven unable to take action in such obvious areas of violence and racial bloodshed as one finds in Darfur. That great international police force, which was created with such great hopes and fanfare, has degenerated into a neighborhood watch program. The only action it ever seems to take when faced with an example of naked oppression is to wring its hands and say "Why doesn't someone do something?"
I have heard some on these bbs state that the Iraqis don't deserve our help unless they are willing to do some of the fighting themselves. What an immensely callous and arrogant statement to make about the fate of an oppressed population.
It's certainly easy to pontificate about someone else taking up arms and putting their lives on the line against a murderous dictatorship while we sit comfortably in our recliners thousands of miles away. In point of fact, many of Saddam's fellow Iraqis and Kurds took up arms and fought against his rule, but without outside help their efforts were doomed. Hundreds-of-thousands of them are buried in the deserts of Iraq.
In such a case, the invasion of Iraqi was FULLY JUSTIFIED, whether or not weapons of mass destruction were ever found or not. The great tragedy of the Iraq war has not been the infliction of immense numbers of casualties on the U.S. forces, which are, in fact, the least of any war we have ever fought, but the undermining of the war effort by lingering and poisonous political hatreds at home...as well as a national population that no longer has the stomach for sustained conflict.
The f e c k less foreign policy that results from such conditions and attitudes will become readily apparent to any foreign power with hostile intent toward the U.S., and will ultimately manifest itself in more examples of aggression and defiance of international laws concerning oppression and human rights.
