freebirdpat wrote:
Nobody ever condones real war, its always the last option on anyone's mind.
If that would only be true...
Repeat, we did not start a war, Iraq started the war with Kuwait, we finished it. Many times in history one country has been dominated or ran over by another country and a foreign country came in to help fight back. I do not like the US being a kind of world police, but nobody else wants to pick up the job, and someone has to do it.
You just learned the first lesson in politics, nothing is purely out of humanitarian reasons, there is always an ulterior motive. Just like the fact that the countries that opposed the war, weren't working on humanitarian reasons on the basis that Iraq was on its way on being better, because it wasn't. Iraqis are going to have schools, and will be able to choose their fate instead of Saddam choosing it for them. Iraq was going to collapse eventually.
Speaking of ulterior motives... Nothing personal, but on one hand you speak of a job to help a "poor country being harassed by an evil dictator", on the other hand you state, that help always is encompassed by an ulterior motive... I wonder what the ulterior motive of the US was in that case... Have you ever wondered, why noone else wanted to pick up the "job" (since when is a fullblown war called a job anyway? That sounds like calling the Holocaust "Taking out the trash", sorry for my sarcasm)
Anyway... as we see, the Iraqi in their newly given freedom just chose to shoot each other and anyone who might interfere... Maybe we should just let them... I am pretty sure, the problem would solve itself in time... As a matter of fact... what does make anyone think, that they even WANT democracy and freedom? Just a thought: How many democracies of western-european or north-american model are existant in the arabic east by this time?
And as far as the atomic weapons ban, only the members of the UN Security Council are allowed to have atomic weapons, yet that isn't happening, thats the atomic weapons ban in a nutshell, there is no ban on them, Russia has them, France has them, Britain has them, China has them, and then there is the countries like India and Pakistan and Iran that are working on them or have them, yet they aren't on the council.
So.... we are playing the game "I will discard my bombs if you do it first", eh? I guess, someone has to start with that. And frankly, what difference does it make, if for example the US does not have any anymore, when for example Russia would decide to lob a few of their own at them? Right, ok... only one country will be devastated except of two, one might think... But have you ever thought, that noone would win? Not even those who are not even involved? The global repercussions would be devastating for all of us. But well... I guess, one cannot expect reason in that direction by a country that is defined to be the will of god by some of its own inhabitants. I seriously pity any country that spends more money on new weapons and armies than on education and welfare.
Iraq has never had a stable society because stable societies aren't formed when a society is ruled by fear. Germany was going to war eventually before Hitler came to power their military was already being trained to fight. All they needed was a go ahead to fight.
I beg to differ here... Fear is the most basic and common motivator for stability and order... Why are modern societies stable? Because they have laws... Why are laws abided by most of the population, even the dumbest ones? Not because of reason but because of fear of the repercussions and punishment.
Oh, and by the way.... what use would be a military if it was not being constantly trained to fight? There were some military figures that sympathized with Hitler, but it is purely ridiculous to state, that Germany wanted to go to war with or without Hitler... I would really like to know, where you got these theories?
If they were looking for Weapons of Mass Destruction, they could snoop around my house all they want because the only weapons of mass destruction they are going to find is dog turds. Iraq was doomed anyhow, it didn't matter whether the US invaded or not, our invasion secured a higher possability of a secure, free, democratic Iraq.
To restate the question: What does make you think, Iraq WANTS to be democratic? And what makes you think, the imposed system IS democratic? And what makes you think, the US democratic system IS really democratic?
I just find it funny how people will question the US and our actions yet, no one questioned the China and Tibet issue, or the Russia and cheychen issue. Or the entire North Korea problem(the people there are very impoverished for no reason at all, and all is at the fault of Kim). There are probably plenty of other issues out there that can be considered problems,(Muslims and Christians fighting in africa), yet nobody addresses those, or brings those up. Yet, the US does something and the whole world wants to join hand and sing kumbaya.
I guess, the answer to this you have given already... The world does not question the action, the world does question the motives. As you already said... there are already ulterior motives and nothing is being done out of pure humanitarian thinking. As you also said: there are so many issues in the world, where people fight people... True, nobody has done really anything effective in the Issue China/Tibet, noone has really helped North Korea (and don't blame everything on Kim... the US have their share in it as well as the USSR and China).... Why is Iraq so much more important than those? Why has the US not tried to bring China democracy for example? Now don't tell me, you have to practice first... the country that says of itself to be the oldes democracy in being should have enough experience in being democratic.
Iraq on the outside was stable, yet on the inside it was bound to fall apart. Sounds like Russia post cold-war.
So what about your own country? You know... sometimes, I have the impression that someone in the White House decides from time to time to bomb someone when a distraction from the interior problems is needed...