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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (37295)	3/31/2004 9:23:23 PM
From: Dayuhan	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793957

It wasn't "our" alternative to offer in Vietnam, nor is it "our" alternative to offer in Iraq. I can't entirely agree with that. When you take it upon yourself to intervene, you assume some responsibility for what happens afterward. The US was openly installing and un-installing governments for its entire tenure in Vietnam. It's difficult to justify claims that we bore no responsibility for the actions of our proxies. We missed the boat in Vietnam in 1945; after that we were climbing a greased pole. In Iraq we have a bit of a quandary. If we leave it to the Iraqis to come up with a government that suits them, we will have to face the reality that what they come up with will probably not suit us. It may diverge from our interests quite dramatically. The process by which they decide what sort of government will suit them is very likely to take time, and to involve violence. It may end up involving fragmentation. It will almost certainly involve an extended period of instability: stable democracies don't just appeal, they evolve, and their evolution is often difficult. The process will be unpredictable, and stages in the process may make our war on terror more difficult, instead of easier. If we try to short-circuit the process by simply installing a government we like (as proposed by Perle, Frum, etc.) we take the Vietnam route, which has not worked very well in the past. It is not going to be easy, but when we decided to go in we accepted a substantial amount of responsibility for the consequences of our actions. Too late to weasel out of it now. If their political opponents persist on killing and otherwise intimidating proponents of democracy, our hands are tied. What, really, did you expect?