Christine, I answer Carroll's article:
JON CARROLL
Friday, February 6, 1998
The world is littered with heads of state who are
not swell guys, and yet we fail to bomb them. The
world is littered with governments that have
''weapons of mass destruction'' (a conveniently
vague term that can mean whatever we want it to
mean), and yet we fail to bomb them.
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Weapons of mass destruction can be defined as thermo-nuclear weapons, nerve gas, bio-chemical agents and biological weapons. It is not a "vague term".
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Most of Saddam's neighbors fit into that category.
Israel has weapons of mass destruction and seems
content to break its promises to the United Nations
with cheerful vigor. But Israel is our friend. Turkey
is butchering its Kurdish minority (indeed, the same
people Saddam Hussein is murdering), plus
torturing dissidents in its jails. But Turkey is also
our friend.
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Saddam's hero is Adolf Hitler - he has oil paintings of Hitler hanging in his palaces. Plus, Saddam has indicated more than once that he wants Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the other UAE states. He believes they should not be sovereign countries, but under one heel - his - as Iraqi provinces. Does Jon Carroll ignore this as insignificant?
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Then there's the kinder, gentler Iran, whose current
rhetorical position is something like ''America is the
great Satan, not that that's necessarily a bad thing.''
Iran has been funding terrorism for a few decades
already, something the vile Saddam Hussein has not
done. Yet it would be inconvenient for us to bomb
Iran just now.
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Iran is not as much a threat to its neighbors and US security as Iraq at the moment. Plus, Iran has not threatened to use weapons of mass destruction on its neighbors in a unilateral offensive attack.
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NOT TO FORGET our beloved allies, the creepy
monarchs of Saudi Arabia. Their internal policies
make Iraq look like Sweden. But we love them like
crazy, even though -- here's a neat twist -- they
won't let us use their airfields for bombing missions
against Iraq.
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Why does Jon call them "creepy"? Because they're Moslem?
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They're hoping for a diplomatic solution. Indeed, all
sane people are hoping for a diplomatic solution,
because who really wants death and destruction?
Who really wants nice Iraqi lads killing nice
American lassies?
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All sane people hoped for a diplomatic solution with Hitler and Nazi Germany too. But there does come a time if a leader and his nation become an outlaw state that poses a real threat to the safety and stability of the rest of the world, that that leader and his followers be met with ultimatums - backed by force if necessary. It was Teddy Roosevelt who said, when once asked about US foreign policy, that we should ". . . walk softly, but carry a big stick".
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Well, all the old white guys who gravely shake their
heads on national television and say war is
inevitable -- they are apparently willing to accept
death and destruction. Not their personal deaths, of
course.
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Emotional arguments. And why the "old white guys" phrase? What has race or age got to do within the context of a rational discourse about whether the use of force is a valid option or not?
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So the next step up from an air war is a land war.
A land war in the desert! Doesn't that sound like
the modern equivalent of ''We'll be in Moscow by
Christmas, don't you worry''? And we'll fight hand
to hand all the way to Baghdad in order to topple
Saddam Hussein.
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Where was this guy during the Gulf War? What type of terrain does he think we fought that one on? It's the same land! Geez - was this guy snorting cocaine back then, or what? His memory ain't too good!
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The Gulf War last time didn't actually do much, but
everyone involved in it was damn popular. All those
crispy bodies in the desert -- wasn't that a proud
moment for Americans?
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Yes, it was a proud moment for Americans. The events unfolding then could have lead to a WWIII scenario within 24 months if we hadn't gotten involved. Plus we freed a sovereign nation that had been overrun by thugs, murderers and rapists. We were right on all counts: politically, morally and economically.
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Analysis of Jon Carroll's skills:
Writing: C+
Analysis: D
Logic: F
Cognition: D-
Father Terrence |
