8 Oct 2002 @ 17:18, by Sandi Hunter
The following is part of a discussion on another forum....
Dear Vaughn,
Like you, and like any thinking person, I consider war to be something that is usually far more destructive and regretable than other real solutions for human ills. After all, when we consider conflict of any kind it is only reasonable to first realize the original cause of that discord, and address THAT issue, with war only being the symptom, not the cure.
President Bush said in his latest address that, "Iraq is a special case" and therefore deserving of special (military) treatment. In my view it is indeed a special case, but not for the reasons he quotes. First of all, I do not see that it was necessarily any of our business being over there to start with in the Gulf War. Our country was not attacked, nor were our citizens or allies. What WAS attacked was the stability of the regional oil reserves, commonly known as "our national interests". So I don't believe we had a "law enforcement" right to be in someone elses' conflict, at least certainly not on humanitarian or moral grounds.
Secondly, those poor people in Iraq have not only been bombed, their troops literally bulldozed into their trenches and their citizens killed by the millions afterwards because of the depleted uranium munitions we used against them, but they have also suffered under over a decade of sanctions and virtual occupation. Their citizens are starving and their hospitals are without needed medicines/equipment. Their own air space has not been theirs. Their own oil has not been theirs to use. They have not been able to buy even some basics for their people because everything they purchase has to go through a UN committeee before it is "approved", including necessary medicines, and these are often denied. The "food for oil" program basically steals their oil in exchange for wheat and produce. They've been bombed continuously for over 11 years right up to the present day, even while bargaining at the UN is still going on. Basically, the Gulf War never ended for them, and yet Bush has the audacity to complain that they've shot at our planes who regularly bomb the hell out of them.
Iraq is a special case all right...they have every reason to hold a grudge...wouldn't you after all, if that were your country?
Vaughn, you said;
The "war" now declared, and the threat of war to disarm Iraq, are hopefully conceived to be an effort of most civilized people to restrain a ruthless underworld obviously standing in the way of an evolving commonwealth of cooperating as well as competing societies and cultures. If the forces of goodwill in most nations are marshaled in this effort to use every intelligence, financial, economic, and (when necessary) military tool, we may move through and beyond war toward the greater goal of eliminating the horrible scourge of war itself."
I fail to see how our actions over the last decade have been "civilized". Perhaps we are the barbarians and the aggressors, yes? If we are to eliminate the scourge of war, then lets focus on what we can do in the spirit of friendship in the international community, rather than making constant threats and demands on dozens of countries around the world. What example can we provide as a nation to the world? Ours is that we maintain the most agressive and expensive military on the planet.
Why don't WE "disarm"?
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