Hi Hawkmoon; Re: "The difference between Desert Storm and now is that we're seeking the overthrow of Saddam, which will only be truly accomplished through the empowerment of the Iraqi people."
No people on the planet have ever felt themselves to be "empowered" by having all night air raids conducted against their military forces. These are not only machines that we would be destroying, there are people behind those machines and they all have mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, sisters and brothers. They're all going to be hurt and angry when we kill and maim their relatives. They're not going to just give up, until we take out the traditional 5% of their population. And then they're still not going to feel like they were "empowered". They'll hate us, but respect our power, and, maybe, sullenly follow our dictates. It will only be 20 years from now that they will grow to be allies and friends, maybe.
The conclusion you're coming to is that overthrowing Saddam through an invasion of Baghdad is easier than forcing his Army to retreat from Kuwait was. Okay. Then why didn't the Allies in WW2 simply overthrow Hitler? It seems like it was rather expensive to go about the same effect by invading from Russia, Africa, and France. Why didn't Hitler simply "overthrow" Stalin?
-- Carl@theleadersinthepastmusthavedoneitthehardway.com |
