Ther's a moral stink here: I doubt that Saddam has to kill much more than 1000 to 5,000 people per year in order to stay in power. Compared to the number killed in a major war, these are insignificant numbers. (Of course if it's you or yours it's a big number.) The number of people murdered in the US every year is significantly larger, and the number killed in auto accidents is huge.
There is a difference between being killed accidently, as it were, or getting killed for the fun of an activity, and torture and murder as a government program or at the whim of a ruler.
One of the reasons citizens of US enemies like the US is because the US stands against these.
One of the reasons citizens of US allies often hate the US is that they see the US supporting murder, torture, kleptocracy. etc, in their countries. At least, that's the spin US enemies in those countries put on it. Ordinary people consequently can easily be convinced the US, and by extension modernity, is tyrannical, hypocritical, decadent, selfish, racist. And this is without counting in the religious component.
Benthamite calculus fails here. Dubya is streets ahead of you. This has little to do with numbers. |
