Michael Moore has an open letter to the president that is a worthy read. I’m still not sure why we are going to go invade Iraq.
[Note, war just started.]
Aaron Swartz has some good words.
Bill has also been blogging about the oil-war.
I tend to agree with Enjelani’s fence straddling. I want to believe there is some reason we are doing this.
MPT has also chimed in with some good thoughts.
Some good words about patriotism from former President Theodore Roosevelt, thanks Robyn.
From the BBC, steps to war.
From the words of the President this evening:
We have no ambition in Iraq, except to remove a threat and restore control of that country to its own people.
What exactly is the threat and when did the people of Iraq ask us to come bomb them? I wonder how we would feel if another country told us to disarm. We’d probably tell them to piss off too. I feel really sad about my country today…
Popularity: 3% [?]
michael (atlanta) adds this Comment:
alex,
premption is a difficult and tricky concept. history offers no clear advice on the subject, only an infinite number of “what if” scenarios we can roll around in our minds and argue about. world affairs is no doubt the most dangerious and unpredictable arena to practice any paradigm, especially those involving geopolitics and military power. the USA has never practiced premption, save a few cases involving actors who were minor players on the world stage, such as Noriega, Idi Amin, etc. None of us wants war, myself included. but i love this country and i care about people everywhere. i never liked gwbush, but i’ve gained new respect for him since he emarked on this politically unpopular series of moves to attempt a heretofore unproven, highly dangerous, and risky strategy of premption. there is good evidence that suggest that, if successful, he will no doubt alter the course of history, as well as cause a fundamental shift in geopolitical idealogy. Indeed, it is tantalizing to think what would have happend if we had prempted Hitler in 1938 as he began his conqest of europe. Could 50 million lives have been saved? Or how about Milosivich? the UN security council was painfully slow stopping a repeat of what was essentially a smaller version of the holocost. as i said, nobody wants war, but i think we all need to start thinking a bit more outside the box and having the courage to support the bold moves our president is making.
March 22nd, 2003 at 8:11 am
Alex adds this Comment:
Thanks for taking the time to write this Michael. I’m still wary of our true motives in invading Iraq, I hope that they are pure as you suggest.
I will say that hearing Iraqis who now live in the US say that they are in favor of the war has improved my view of what we are doing.
My biggest concern is that this is a slippery slope. If our foriegn policy becomes “we know what is best for you and you’ll thank us after we come in and ‘fix’ your problems”, I’m definitely worried by that.
At this point, I’m just hoping that there is a swift and positive outcome.
March 22nd, 2003 at 6:45 pm