By the way, Japan's invasion of its resource-rich Asian neighbors in WW2 was entirely based on "self-defense", just like our invasion of Iraq was in "self-defense".
If Japan had been a democratic nation, and invaded a brutal totalitarian regime for the purpose of creating a self-governing democratic (or at least stable and modern) society, rather than conquering, and inflicting its own brutal rule, I wouldn't have minded...
But then again, unlike people of your ilk, I don't consider non-democratic governments to be legitimate. They are something that a democratic nation must tolerate and live with, until such time that their national interests are threatened by these dictators. And I have no qualms about overthrowing despots, since they do everything they are permitted to get away with to undermine democratic ideals and international cooperation.
The situation would have been totally different had Iraq been democratic, reflecting the views and perspectives of its electorate.
But then again, had Iraq been democratic, the conditions that led to this war would likely never have arisen..
Hawk |
