We ARE trying to do the best, that was my point, but maybe I have to express that point in unnecessarily large words for you to understand it.
"I'm sorry you feel that vocabulary of this magnitude seems "large" to you in a sense that I am trying to be merely pretentious or pedantic."
LOL!!! Thank you for proving my earlier point.
As for repeating old mistakes, there is more evidence that ignoring a hostile, cruel dictator does more harm than good. While you contend that the U.S. would repeat old mistakes by going into Iraq, I contend that we will NOT repeat the old mistakes of WW2 by going into Iraq. I will repeat this from another thread: "Evil is doing nothing in the face of need"
Also, I never said that the U.S. wasn't acting out of self-interest, in fact a I made a point to say that we often do, but the fact is that more times than not what is in our best interests coincides with the best interests of the world in general and we share in the benefits. And if you are going to argue that leaving Hussein in power is in the world's best interest, you are a fool.
"I also see that you make a broad generalization about other countries doing nothing, while America is carrying the torch valiantly. Can't you see that you're merely buying into an ultranationalistic assumption? You told me that I have no facts to back up my claim in your first point. So what backing do you have for this sort of a broad generalization?"
Did you bother reading the article before you replied. The author pointed out one big one.
Lets see, WW2, Bosnia, Panama, Somalia, etc. Whether of not they were all successful is irrelevant. The point is that America went in there and did what it could. Bosnia was laughable. The U.N. didn't budge until the US gave support and made it an issue.
As for not being un-patriotic, I think think its obvious that you are. Despite whatever careful wording you use, you're themes are quite evident. You call a potential Iraq war "unjust", but why is that? Here's the facts:
1) Under international law Iraq is ALREADY guilty. The burden of proof in on Iraq to prove their innocence, not the other way around. Look it up.
2) They have over 1,000 tons of chemical and biological agents unaccounted for with no evidence of destruction. The Iraqi answer? We don't have it. I wonder where is went...
3) They violated their rules of surrender, did not let inspectors in for years, and have extremely uncooperative in the face of the new insppections. Blix has said this much. He has also said that the 12,000 page manifest that Iraq gave to the UN is worthless.
4) Iraqi refugees in the US WANT the US to go to war. They have formed political organizations to work for this to happen. They know what goes on in Iraq. They experience friends and family members dissappearing and the oppression they lived under. Who are we to say we know better than them?
My question to you is this: What will it take for this war to be just? To find a smoking gun, it needs to be fired. What if that smoke takes the form of a mushroom cloud? And don't say it couldn't happen. We didn't think they could find a way to take out the world trade center either. Terrorists are resourceful and intelligent, even if deluded. So whats it going to take? Evidently common sense isn't enough to sway you.
__________________
|