I'm not in favour of war. And I kind of resent the implication that only the ignorant wouldn't be.
Nobody thinks Saddam Hussein is a good man - nobody I've ever met, anyway. Torture happens all over the world. War is not the answer to ending torture and oppression.
But, hey, if you think military in invasion is the universal answer, you'd better go and enlist. We're going to need a bigger army.
I also think that it's been approached the wrong way and that it's impossible to differentiate the motives of the countries involved from any altruistic intent that may exist (both on the part of France and the US).
For instance, I was definitely in favour of intervention in former Yugoslavia and I think that Rwanda could have done with a lot of intervention in very short order.
On the other hand I think that the US has a long history of interfering purely for its own gain.
Dammit, despite not being a fan of his, I'm going to have to say that Tony Blair's speach pretty much laid it out perfectly:
Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction. He refuses to account for there whereabouts. When there are threats of force, he responds; without them he kicked inspectors out for 4 years. The UN's resolutions are pointless unless they are followed through and France refuses to allow the UN to make any intimation that it will be followed through.
I hate the idea of war, but in this case I think I hate the idea of not-war more.
Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction. He refuses to account for there whereabouts. Except that he doesn't, at least not functional ones. He doesn't have nukes and the chemical and biological weapons that weren't destroyed before (and there is good evidence that most were) are now useless due to age, and he doesn't have facilities for making more. In fact, everything I've read indicate that his anthrax warheads never worked. He might at most have a couple of functional chemical warheads. The man is a dire threat to his own people, and no threat at all to anyone else.
As for your link to his atrocities, he's only one of far too many. I'm against getting rid of Hussein simply because there is almost no end to that sort of world policing. Events in North Korea are considerably worse than in Iraq, death squads still roam a few Latin American nations, and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe can certainly give Hussein a run for his money wrt atrocities. I find a world where the major powers invade any nation that they disapprove off to be far worse than one where petty tyrants exist. If there is a precedent for wiping out tyrants, it's only a small step to wiping out governments that the major power dislike. Even if that never happens, I simply don't believe that any nation has the right to invade another nation because it don't like how the other nation is governed. If we really want to get rid of such people, stop foolish embargoes and instead try to help the residents become prosperous enough to resist and heavily fund any reasonably competent and non-horrid rebels.
This war may well kill more people than Hussein is responsible for killing and when combined with the decade-long sanctions and border bombing, it most certainly has killed far more people than he did. I'm all about minimizing death and suffering and invasions have a definite tendency not to do that. Also, do you honestly believe the new puppet tyrant or the Saudi-backed Wahabbi fanatic who will soon be ruling Iraq (depending upon how successful the US is) will be any better than Hussein? At that point, we have another tyrant + lots of deaths during the war.
He doesn't have nukes and the chemical and biological weapons that weren't destroyed before (and there is good evidence that most were) are now useless due to age
Which isn't what the weapons inspectors were saying when they reported all the unaccounted for VX and other agents. If it's old and useless why doesn't he come out and say "it's there, it's no use, we buried it in this hole in the ground."
If we really want to get rid of such people, stop foolish embargoes and instead try to help the residents become prosperous enough to resist and heavily fund any reasonably competent and non-horrid rebels
I think that funding rebels is actually worse than intervening yourself. If there's a moral case for overthrowing a despot, then get in there and do it, don't just prolong things by helping out people that don't have much of a chance of actually succeeding.
I'm certainly in favour of working with countries to make them better places to live, increasing education, etc. The EU approach of allowing countries to join once they have their human rights legislation in place is definitely a great model. But I don't think it works in all cases. I think there is sometimes a case for war. I wish that people had intervened faster when Hitler invaded Chekslovakia, faster when Yugoslavia went to Hell and when the Rwandan atrocities started. The "It is a far away place of which we know nothing and anyway, maybe they like being ruled over by a mad dictator" approach isn't one that works for me.
If there's a moral case for overthrowing a despot, then get in there and do it
Except that that makes you a despot yourself. Sometimes it's the only thing to do, but it's not strictly moral, and I don't believe it should be done unless there is truly no alternative at all. A moral regime change is about empowering the people of the country to make choices - and, no "empowering" isn't a pointless, wishy-washy word. It can mean "arming", it can mean "supporting with force", it can mean any of a range of things. What I think it doesn't mean is deciding to go in, kill lots of people, and put in either a US dictator, or a US-supported dictator.
I stopped believing the word moral had any kind of absolute meaning a loooong time ago.
And seeing as all of the Iraqi comments I've heard from outside of Iraq seem to be in favour of us invading, that seems empowering.
Of course I'm in agreement that US-imposed dictators are a bad thing. But the Japanese model (help rebuild the economy and then hand power back to an educated, self-reliant populace) seems like a good one.
The case with Hitler invading Chekslovakia is a bit different. I think there is considerably more justification for interfering when a nation invades another than when a nation is having internal problems.
And it's wrong to break up a fight by hurting people too.
If I see a rapist attacking someone it'd be wrong for me to punch him, because all violence is wrong.
Morals are relative - there's no absolutes involved here.
Thankfully, so far, the vast majority of the Iraqis are putting up no resistance or are actively surrendering. I'd really rather keep the bloodshed to a minimum. If this keeps up, it'll hopefully all be over as quickly as the first Gulf War was and the rebuilding can get started.
>stop foolish embargoes and instead try to help the residents become prosperous enough to resist and heavily fund any reasonably competent and non-horrid rebels.
The problem there (in addition too selling weapons to a extremist theocracy) was that in that case (as in far too many others) the US funded deeply horrid rebels against an exemplary government - pretty much the exact reverse of what I'd advocating.
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andrewducker) wrote2003-03-20 11:17 am
no subject
Nobody thinks Saddam Hussein is a good man - nobody I've ever met, anyway. Torture happens all over the world. War is not the answer to ending torture and oppression.
But, hey, if you think military in invasion is the universal answer, you'd better go and enlist. We're going to need a bigger army.
no subject
I think that in this situation it may well be.
I also think that it's been approached the wrong way and that it's impossible to differentiate the motives of the countries involved from any altruistic intent that may exist (both on the part of France and the US).
For instance, I was definitely in favour of intervention in former Yugoslavia and I think that Rwanda could have done with a lot of intervention in very short order.
On the other hand I think that the US has a long history of interfering purely for its own gain.
Dammit, despite not being a fan of his, I'm going to have to say that Tony Blair's speach pretty much laid it out perfectly:
Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction. He refuses to account for there whereabouts. When there are threats of force, he responds; without them he kicked inspectors out for 4 years. The UN's resolutions are pointless unless they are followed through and France refuses to allow the UN to make any intimation that it will be followed through.
I hate the idea of war, but in this case I think I hate the idea of not-war more.
no subject
As for your link to his atrocities, he's only one of far too many. I'm against getting rid of Hussein simply because there is almost no end to that sort of world policing. Events in North Korea are considerably worse than in Iraq, death squads still roam a few Latin American nations, and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe can certainly give Hussein a run for his money wrt atrocities. I find a world where the major powers invade any nation that they disapprove off to be far worse than one where petty tyrants exist. If there is a precedent for wiping out tyrants, it's only a small step to wiping out governments that the major power dislike. Even if that never happens, I simply don't believe that any nation has the right to invade another nation because it don't like how the other nation is governed. If we really want to get rid of such people, stop foolish embargoes and instead try to help the residents become prosperous enough to resist and heavily fund any reasonably competent and non-horrid rebels.
This war may well kill more people than Hussein is responsible for killing and when combined with the decade-long sanctions and border bombing, it most certainly has killed far more people than he did. I'm all about minimizing death and suffering and invasions have a definite tendency not to do that. Also, do you honestly believe the new puppet tyrant or the Saudi-backed Wahabbi
fanatic who will soon be ruling Iraq (depending upon how successful the US is) will be any better than Hussein? At that point, we have another tyrant + lots of deaths during the war.
no subject
Which isn't what the weapons inspectors were saying when they reported all the unaccounted for VX and other agents. If it's old and useless why doesn't he come out and say "it's there, it's no use, we buried it in this hole in the ground."
If we really want to get rid of such people, stop foolish embargoes and instead try to help the residents become prosperous enough to resist and heavily fund any reasonably competent and non-horrid rebels
I think that funding rebels is actually worse than intervening yourself. If there's a moral case for overthrowing a despot, then get in there and do it, don't just prolong things by helping out people that don't have much of a chance of actually succeeding.
I'm certainly in favour of working with countries to make them better places to live, increasing education, etc. The EU approach of allowing countries to join once they have their human rights legislation in place is definitely a great model. But I don't think it works in all cases. I think there is sometimes a case for war. I wish that people had intervened faster when Hitler invaded Chekslovakia, faster when Yugoslavia went to Hell and when the Rwandan atrocities started. The "It is a far away place of which we know nothing and anyway, maybe they like being ruled over by a mad dictator" approach isn't one that works for me.
no subject
Except that that makes you a despot yourself. Sometimes it's the only thing to do, but it's not strictly moral, and I don't believe it should be done unless there is truly no alternative at all. A moral regime change is about empowering the people of the country to make choices - and, no "empowering" isn't a pointless, wishy-washy word. It can mean "arming", it can mean "supporting with force", it can mean any of a range of things. What I think it doesn't mean is deciding to go in, kill lots of people, and put in either a US dictator, or a US-supported dictator.
no subject
I stopped believing the word moral had any kind of absolute meaning a loooong time ago.
And seeing as all of the Iraqi comments I've heard from outside of Iraq seem to be in favour of us invading, that seems empowering.
Of course I'm in agreement that US-imposed dictators are a bad thing. But the Japanese model (help rebuild the economy and then hand power back to an educated, self-reliant populace) seems like a good one.
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no subject
I'm going to admit to not caring at all about nations. If people are hurting people then I think they should be stopped.
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If I see a rapist attacking someone it'd be wrong for me to punch him, because all violence is wrong.
Morals are relative - there's no absolutes involved here.
Thankfully, so far, the vast majority of the Iraqis are putting up no resistance or are actively surrendering. I'd really rather keep the bloodshed to a minimum. If this keeps up, it'll hopefully all be over as quickly as the first Gulf War was and the rebuilding can get started.
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A la, the Iran-Contra scandal?
no subject