> We were never discussing the timing of the invasion, the planning of infrastructure, etc.
No? Please explain how you separate the issue of going to war from the issue of going to war now? I imagine at some point in time every nation will oppose some other nation, but that does not mean they should fight their future wars now.
Similarly, how do you separate the issue of post war consequences from the justification for going to war? What happens as a result of a decision is directly related to if that decision should be made.
> You (and everyone else who thinks we should have had an accurate crystal ball before engaging in the invasion)
You are making the wrong assumptions here. Nobody requires perfect foresight. But that is no justification for lack of contingency planning. There were reports from some very qualified people who predicted the events well down to the post war looting. But they fell on deaf ears. What exactly was the "Plan B"?
> It is clear to me that the world simply expects/demands a perfect democratic government in Iraq within six months
Really?! I never saw such calls. But I do think the Neocons had the responsibility to spell out the costs and the time frame before going to war.
> I find the distinction between internal and external stability to be ludicrous.
OK, then I explain it to you. Internal instability is contained within the country. If Iran were to have a change of regime, it would not have much of an effect on Saudi. If UAE suddenly decided to disintegrate into a dozen sheikdoms, they would not cause the fall of Kuwait. As such the damage would be much smaller. This negates the need for us to be the policeman around the block to bludgeon the countries into submission.
Furthermore, internal instabilities progress much more slowly than external ones. They typically take at least one generation to boil over and often more. This means that there is time to find alternate solutions than going to war.
In contrast, Egypt, Israel, Syria, Palestinians block is externally unstable. A very delicate and complex balance of forces needs to be maintained to prevent an engulfing conflict. This would have been true even if those Arab leaders were popular with their people.
Now that you know the difference between internal and external instability, I hope you see why invading Iraq cannot be justified under the guise of bringing stability to Persian Gulf. With very few exception during their history, PG countries are too busy dealing with their internal problems to care too much about next door. |
