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

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (171558)	9/30/2005 3:00:57 PM
From: epicure	Respond to of 281500

If evidence came out (or comes out) that Saddam was training terrorists to invade the US I would change some of my positions, and I've always said that. JUST as I said a few years ago that while I did not expect WMD to be found, if they WERE found I would change my thinking. I cannot say I have seen changes in thinking by the other side, even though WMD's have not been found- even from people who said over and over that they WOULD be found. I've seen a shift in focus, and a scurrying about in a smokescreen of other issues, but no change. I'm a little disappointed about that.

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (171558)	10/1/2005 3:06:56 AM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 281500

Ed, "cognitive dissonance" is the jargon. When reality conflicts with ingrained beliefs, it's difficult for people to change. <I think it's difficult for people who have felt a sense of "rightness" so deeply and so strongly to undo the neural patterns of acceptance that have become automatic. I wonder if Karen is one of the people who is honest and who deeply cares but is having difficulty undoing false "common wisdom" drilled into us by those we trust. > It's rarely mentioned, but if it's true that there was an Iraqi-based attempt on the lives of King George I, Laura Bush and associates, I'm not surprised that King George II was determined to get Saddam and the card deck. Vengeance and power are eons-old drivers. Positively Shakespearian. In Shakespeare, everyone ends up dead and somebody reflects in a soliloquy. That's my understanding anyway, having been a failure in that stuff at school. Of course King George II needed a fig-leaf of WMDs and WAT to cover his naked lust for power and revenge, so we don't hear much about utu as the driver of the invasion. Now that Saddam is caged and Uday, Qusay and most of the stack of cards are finished, the impetus has gone. There's still the oil and "democracy" to sort out, but those are relatively small issues. Enough to carry on though. Maybe. One of the good things about the USA invasion of Iraq is that it's an excellent live-fire training course. A military surely needs real-time real-life action to maintain performance and to ensure equipment and military ideas function as expected. That's probably not a reason which they can use in public discussion. "Your son died in a training programme" isn't very convincing to a wailing mother and father. Another good thing about dragging Saddam out of his spider hole and killing his sons is that it encourages the likes of North Korea's and Libya's and Syria's and Iran's rulers to gulp and think again about their megalomaniac plans. Poor old Milosevic is another warning to potential miscreants about the cruel and unusual punishment which awaits - imagine being tormented by lawyers for years in a courtroom. Mqurice