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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
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To: Dayuhan who wrote (69003)1/27/2003 12:38:10 AM
From: Nadine Carroll  Read Replies (2) of 281500
 
Murphy omits the most compelling reasons for seeking a multilateral umbrella for military action against Iraq.

One can have allies without UN Security Council approval, and vice-versa I might add. It is obvious that we need allies. It is not obvious that we need the moral 'imprimatur' of the UNSC.

If unilateral action compromises our relations with countries whose cooperation we need in the war on terrorism, we may do ourselves more harm than good

That's true. But the opposite is also true - if we prove irresolute enough to be rolled by bluff and diplomatic theatre, we will do ourselves harm for sure.

The terrorists will have more money, more recruits, and more influence

It's possible. But they haven't been lacking for any of these so far, and have gotten good mileage out of the "spiderweb society" theory; that the West is decadent and won't fight if pushed.

The description of our policies as “the right thing” assumes that we are serving some higher moral imperative, rather than our own perception of our own interests. This is both stupid and dangerous. What we want is not “the right thing”. What we want is what we want.

I don't think you are quite getting the tenor of the argument here, Steven. The neocons who argue that we must do "the right thing" are not arguing that we alone act for altruism (at least, most don't). Rather, they think that "the best defense is offense" and that acting aggressively against both Saddam and the other terrorist-supporting states is in the best interests of both America and Europe, and the Europeans are being have their heads in the sand when they don't see it the same way.
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