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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: E who wrote (83123)	3/17/2003 10:57:32 PM
From: St_Bill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi E: I am ambivalent and trying to be thoughtful and mindful of history. I despise Bush's use of history: comparing Hussein to Hitler is nuts. Hitler threatened the world with a force able to defeat the combined forces and efforts of the U.S.the rest of Europe and the Soviet Union. But now, the U.S. could, using the force of one carrier group, incinerate Iraq. and so our greatest enemy in a way is ourselves. we have met the enemy and he is us: How to remain a force for the good when have have so much by way of deadly, destructive force at our disposal. This is how I remain hopeful. The United States is a great idea that survives and has grown more powerful than any nation state in history. and yet these or this United States doesn't seem to be interested in conquering the world. It could. It would cost millions of lives. But in the end this country could, if it wanted, enthrall every extant nation state. It has that power. But it's not used. It chooses not to, for good reason and for the reason and the sake of the good, or so I perhaps naively believe. Still I'd like to play devil's advocate and respond to the three lesson you've posted: 1]that it's folly to submit to inspections since that will not safeguard you from attack. Real Lesson -- This particular inspection program has being going on now for twelve years, off and on, more and less with not much by way of apparent cooperation. A genuine, forthright response to inspection and disarmament demands would have prevented (?) a strike. Real lesson: Don't screw around. Listen to what people are telling you. don't count on their hand-wringing to save you in the long run. 2]Having a few nukes is a good thing. Real Lesson -- Having a handful of nukes is useless and stupid in the long run, terrifying as it may be. Real deterrence requires a parity of forces, e.g., U.S. vs. U.S.S.R.. The use of a limited arsenal consisting of a weapon or two only guarantees your own destruction,minutes after you stupidly press your own little button. And the knowledge of that certain destruction will be salted with the knowledge that your opponent will surely survive. the game of deterence doesn't really work here. Perhaps this isn't much different from some seventeen-year-old who gets a gun and thinks that they're now a big man, a force to be reckoned with. 3] You should share your WMD's with your buds; don't be selfish? Real Lesson: Many of Hussein's buds (for example)would enjoy the chance at using said weapons against, who else, Mr. Hussein. Nonproliferation is always best, regardless of who you may happen to think your friends are at the moment. So what do you think of these counter-arguments? they're good enough to justify further thought and better arguments? If you're a fan of consequentialist ethics, the trouble is predicting consequences in/for the longer run. It's going to be very interesting to see what happens next, as a consequence. One Last comment: On NPR today some famous smart person explained how the main consequence 9/11 was the loss of our Naivete. I found this unspeakably ignorant, obnoxious and stupid. consider what this country and this world has suffered and seen over the last two centuries. If this has done nothing to open our eyes (and here mentally recite a list of events from Dachau to Dresden; Shilou to Saigon)then the destruction of two large buildings and a few thousand people will, horrifyingly, mean nothing at all. But still I remain hopeful. Despite my objections to my country's current policies and decisions, in the end I cannot succumb to cynicism. It would do us no good to believe that we cannot learn from our mistakes. we are doomed if we believe that a year or even a decade of miss-steps can corrode our ideals. Sickened as I am at the thought of it: Once more unto the breech dear friends. Bill