| Yes, you are using inflammatory language about jla's position, and, since jla has not suggested anything but the dispossession of tyrants and promotion of democracy according to American norms, you have implicitly equated Nazi ideology to American ideas of democracy, liberty, and the rule of law. There are reasons to criticize Wilsonianism, but the slam that to promote free elections is to act like Nazis is not one of them. Nor did jla suggest that the casus belli should be the imposition of our political system, merely that the liberation of the Iraqi people was another reason to approve of intervention. Actually, the United States invaded Haiti, under Clinton, to reinstate the elected government; the United States helped partisans in Greece to forestall the introduction of a Communist dictatorship, under Truman; the United States portrayed itself, in World War I, as coming to the aid of democracies against reactionary regimes; Clinton bombed Serbia to forestall an anticipated holocaust in Kososvo, even though it was an intervention in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation; and, in general, it is not unknown to invoke idealistic reasons to intervene, although usually at a level well-short of invasion. In any event, I was not questioning your patriotism so much as trying to point out to you the implications of your knee- jerk reactions....... |
