A reader responds to "They're just numbers":
Should we 'support freedom' by acting as judge and jury in the world court, ignoring the call for restraint from a significant number of Americans, the majority of nations, the UN and the Pope? That IS the definition of stupid and self-centered, isn't it? The previous blogger's 'unique obligation' smacks of Bush's infamous 'Crusade' speech, which shocked the entire world and put the Islamic fundamentalist in full alarm.
As far as Iraq goes we had no obligations. They were already under sanctions, had agreed to inspections and the UN was satisfied that conflict could be avoided diplomatically. What Bush was really doing is dealing with the legacy of bad foreign policy errors that other (mostly Republican) presidents permitted during the '80s and '90s when we sold Saddam his hardware and when we were a silent partner in the Afghan conflict with Russia, and then failed to take out Hussein the first time around.
I believe that what our government is doing now is the reason many people of the world hate us; we are acting like the ruler of the world, not its benefactor. I, like many others, hope only the best for Iraq's future, but nowhere in the United States' Constitution does it state that Americans must sacrifice the lives of their own citizens to forestall an unconfirmed threat thousands of miles away.
Saddam was contained and no real proof of any WMD were discovered, so the Bush Administration ASSUMED or worse fabricated this threat, and if this was not accompanied by ignoring Richard Clark's warnings of danger at home, it would seem less like a vendetta against his father's attempted assassin.
Gone are the days when America could ignore the sentiments of the rest of the world. The Bush administrations losing track of the body count, banning casket photos, ignoring the Geneva Convention and no-bidding Halliburton's $$ mega-billion contract are warnings of another kind of danger.
Liberals don't fear freedom; we fear men with more power than intelligence.
Written by a STop blog reader
Respond to this posting
Marketplace
Back to top