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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
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To: Dayuhan who wrote (101666)6/16/2003 12:06:36 AM
From: Sam  Read Replies (1) of 281500
 
<< I'd hate to think that decisions in DC were affected by Saddam's blustering. I'd have hoped we had better sources of information.>>
My opinion: the decisions weren't so much "affected" by Saddam's bluster, the decision makers used it for their own purposes, i.e., to get rid of him.

I heard Bill Kristol say in a radio interview (I think with Terri Gross on Fresh Air) something like, "Wouldn't it have been great if someone could have killed Hitler in the mid-30s, before WWII and the Holocaust even happened?" I believe that he actually thinks that such actions can be profitably and accurately done in this unipolar world. He (and others in the Bush admin) think themselves uncorruptable, discerning judges of what the world needs politically, and don't think about the precedents they are setting. They only consider their own "good" intentions in exercising their judgements and the awesome power of the US military. The world will judge us positively when we win, when we succeed, they believe. They believe themselves to be the coincidence of "philosophy" and "power" that classical philosophers like Plato and Aristotle wrote about but doubted would ever happen, with Bush as their Dionysios.

Personally, I think it's hybris. But we'll have to see if the gods have glory or punishment in store for them. Their ambition is certainly something to behold. I wonder if there is a Thucydides somewhere in the administration who is a good, observant writer and is taking good notes. Could be an interesting story if so.
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