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

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (80338)	10/24/2004 2:53:19 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793964

Those who think it's safe to lose 'non-existential' wars will soon find themselves with more expensive and more existential wars on their hands. Nadine, Iraq was not an existential war. With all the debates I've had here with many people including you, I have not found anyone who thinks the US would have ceased to exist at the hands of AQ or Iraq or any of their buddies had we not invaded Iraq when we di. No one. It's unthinkable. It's ridiculous. We're big and strong and they're vicious little insects. If ignored, maybe in twenty or thirty years Islamism could could develop to the point where they could do us in. The threat is real and cannot be ignored. We need to be working to obviate a potentially existential war. But we are not yet in an existential war. If we didn't invade Iraq when we did, you and I would still both be here arguing about this and anticipating an election just like we do every four yoars. If we thought that taking down Iraq was a necessary step in avoiding this potentially existential war and gotten our ducks lined up, it most likely would have worked better. Going in when we did was frantic. "Losing a 'non-existential' war" is not tolerable. Rather, I'm advocating a more conservative approach recognizing that this is a long-term effort, planning ahead, using the full range of tools, and pacing ourselves. We have time before it risks becoming existential. We should use that time wisely. At a minimum, we shouldn't do reckless things that could speed up the enemy's developmental time frame. The US is not Israel. Israel is a little country in a hostile neighborhood. Comparisons only go so far.