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

To: redfish who wrote (128201)	4/2/2004 12:27:59 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

Would I be in favor of the US invading that nation and bringing freedom to its people, and the family I still have there? Absolutely not, it is not the US's fight, and asking a US serviceman to fight someone else's battle is, imo, cowardly. What if your country was threatened with dominated by a group of individuals who's vision of the future is to turn them into suicide bombers bent on worldwide Jihad, insuring that there would be no place you could find sanctuary from their totalitarian and repressive vision of the future? It is our fight.. 9/11 made it that way. Decades of neglect and opting for the easy path of "regional stability" rather progressive than human rights, democracy and economic modernization have created the whirlwind we are now reaping. Islamic Militancy has been on the rise for the past two decades. We could have taken prophylactic action previously to require stagnant and despotic regimes to recognize the changing trends within their societies, but now we are playing catch trying to put out a fire that demographics trends and economic stagnation are fueling throughout the region. Is there something inherently wrong with assisting those Iraqi people who would like to have a political and economic choice in their lives from being able to achieve that? Is democracy (even a fledgling form of it) such a despicable concept that we believe it's not worthy of fighting for? Do you, or others, actually believe that people CHOOSE to be dominated by despotic tyrants, whose only agenda is to perpetuate their own power and strip natural resources from the citizens of a given country? For all of the American deaths that have occurred in recent months, has anyone bothered to tally up the human cost to Iraqi civilians hoping only to restore some sense of hope and opportunity, or those Iraqi police officials seeking to restore social order and respect for law and civil non-violent resolution of disputes? Democracy, when properly implemented, has the irreversible effect of diluting the power of the elites, and empowering the dispossessed. Is it little wonder that some elements of the former regime would seek to preserve their social and economic positioin, rather than sharing it with others? Oh yeah... some may question the efficacy of invading and overthrowing a despotic and intransigent regime. But only most intellectually destitute and morally bankrupt individuals could believe that promoting democracy is something to be ashamed of. Hawk