Posted by mair on March 23, 2003, at 22:20:53
In reply to Re: wherein the author goes on a Riff, posted by syringachalet on March 23, 2003, at 5:20:31
"For America to just 'stand by' while dememted men like Hussein and Ben Laden continue to run terror and death throughout their own people would be a travesty."
Actually, we've been doing that for years all over the globe so long as we perceived whatever monster was in power to be less of a threat to us than the unknown alternative. To the best of my recollection, President Jimmy Carter was the only President who made human rights a priority when dealing with foreign governments, and he got little credit and a lot of ridicule for taking this stance. Let's also remember that we gave Bin Laden all kinds of support (Arms) when his target was the Russians.
> The oil fields that Hussein burned in 1991 and starting now are not his oil fields to burn.
> They also dont belong to America or any other nation. They belong to the people of Iraq.
> These fields are one of the few bargain chips these people have left to sell to the world in exchange for the things they need to survive.
>
> "As for the strength of the UN, I think what we have seen with President Bush is that when the rest of the world bowed down to terriorism, America 'drew the line in the sand' and said NO MORE."But this is the worst part of this war. No one disagrees that Hussein is a pretty awful guy who abuses his people and his office, there's a difference between thinking that Hussein is awful, and endorsing the idea of the U.S. taking very unilateral steps to get rid of him. I believe one reason Bush failed so miserably at the UN is because he came into this with his mind made up and with a "my way or no way" attitude. He presumed to know what was best for the world and when the other powers didn't go along with his view, he said the equivalent of it doesn't matter because I'm going to do what I want to anyway. IMO It was a miserable display of diplomacy. I think if there is ever going to be a lasting peace, peace has to be waged as aggressively and be as hard fought as is war. No one country, not even the strongest can disregard the interests and concerns of its allies. It's one thing to be strong. It's another to be a bully. I think the rest of the world perceives the U.S. to be a bully and I believe this will shape their willingness to cooperate with us on all sorts of other matters.
> "(These will probably be the ones who will want to enjoy the benefits of ousting of these two dememted men from power with cheaper oil and gasoline prices.)"
If it's not "about the oil," why do people keep raising the issue of lowered oil prices as one of the spoils of victory? The Europeans have lived with high oil prices for years; and have compensated with public transportation and smaller more fuel efficient cars. Although I live in a very rural area where 1)there is almost no public transportation and 2)where 4 wheel drive automobiles and trucks are a necessity for many people, and 3) where the winters are cold enough to make people highly dependent on oil as a source of heat, I would gladly live with higher oil prices if it meant that we were respected for our efforts to find a solution to the problems of the Palestinians and if it meant that every 3rd Arab male didn't want to commit jihad on the United States.
I just happen to believe that this war is about so much more than who wins the military battles.
>
Respectfully,Mair
poster:mair
thread:210223
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030322/msgs/212003.html