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

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (87410)	3/28/2003 5:49:47 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Twain was nice, but Chesterton was better. On war, the Great One had this to say: "War is not the best way of settling differences; it is the only way of preventing their being settled for you."

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (87410)	3/28/2003 6:55:23 PM
From: jttmab	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Well, at the risk of being blackballed by NSA A much maligned group. Nice people I hear. At the core of it the issue is this: Do you believe in Peace. I disagree. Do you believe that progress can be made towards a more peaceful world? We'll have war until the species is extinct. I'm certain about that. But it is possible to make progress. Painfully, but progress is possible. People like Saddam don't emerge by themselves, they need help. Al Qaeda needs help...I just wish we would stop helping them. Iraq aside. Great progress could be made if we stopped selling weapons to the third world. Unfortunately, there are a few countries that want to continue the practice. jttmab

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (87410)	3/29/2003 1:22:45 AM
From: frankw1900	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

And this lack of planning for peace is the problem with the hawk's agenda. They believe in conquering and beating into submission. It is an extended cease fire they are after rather than peace, because they feel they can win the war but working through peace is an uncharted sea for them. The hawks of WW2 turned into very effective peace makers at the end of the war. There have been quite a number of discussions and scenarios of what Iraq might peacefully be after the war - quite a few written by people in favour of the war. Your name sake would not be in favour of letting Saddam run nearly as far as the US and UN have allowed. There is no future peace if others see your desire for peace or negotiation as weakness. Saddam and his Baathists are in the grip of Perfectly Stupid Ideas and will not be talked out of them without some external shock which will loosen the grip. In the case of Saddam himself the shock will certainly be his death. Let me reframe your first sentence: Violence is often, but not always, the refuge of the incompetent. Not as witty as Twain but possibly a lot more realistic.