John Stuart Mill:
"War is an ugly thing...but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.
A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight...nothing he cares about more than his own personal safety...is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
Siaf, let me clear something up for you.
I volunteered during the VietNam war. Young, idealistic to a fault, I believed the US would stick with the the South Vietnamese until they, too, could freely elect their own government and not have Communism imposed upon them by force of arms.
And it was not the soldiers of the United States that failed. It was clearly the politicians. There was nothing wrong with the goal or the ideal. There was something rotten in the elected leadership.
I have two sons of military age. One has graduated from University and entered the job market. He is registered for the draft, should it be reinstated. The other is in college now and is also registered for the draft. Both have clearly expressed a willingness to serve if called.
How would I feel if they were among the US dead in Iraq? Sad beyond measure; no parent should outlive their child/children. They are my greatest treasure.
Would I blame Bush, even if no WMD were ever found?
Yeah, a bit. I don't think he lied, but if he got bad information and made the wrong decision, he's still the man responsible and accountable for sending US troops to war.
But I'll tell you where I'd really lay the blame. I'd lay the blame on a UN Security Council that failed to enforce it's own resolutions for 12 years. I'd blame an International community that sat by and let Iraq get away with flaunting UN resolutions for 12 years. I'd blame countries that aided and abetted Iraq in flaunting those resolutions.
I'd blame people that are made and kept free by the exertions of better men than themselves.
I would know my son wasn't one of those. At least that would console me to some degree. I'd know he'd died for something greater than himself, for a simple idea that transcends all others.
An idea that is probably becoming more and more clear to the Iraqi people day by day.
An idea that isn't worth discussing with you.
The cost in lives is already high. It will get higher. The cost in dollars is astronomical; it, too, will get higher. The intelligent people knew that would be the case long before this war started.
The "reason" for going there was WMD; that,
as yet has been neither validated nor invalidated.
Yet it is undeniable that there were OTHER reasons for going there that to intelligent, decent men were/are just as compelling. You don't have to look far to find them and you have to be totally insensitive to ignore them.
We didn't declare war against Germany to liberate Auschwitz but the liberation of Auschwitz served to underline the justification for going to war with Germany.
And it has created instability. Over the past ~
5 months. You're willing to judge based on that historically insignificant timeline. To me, that's laughable. And it makes you, at this time, unworthy of any serious effort to discuss things rationally.
So, let's talk in 10 years. If Iraq is an extremely prosperous, well-fed, medically advanced country with a democratically elected progressive government by then... you tell me how that made the Mid-East more unstable.
It could happen; it's what the intelligent part of the world community is working towards.
While others sit on their derrires and complain, carp and try to obstruct the attempt to make Iraq a better place to live and better part of the world community.
A real reason for pride, eh? Vive la Siaf!
Ta-ta.
