tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9739005.post4339528796323933530..comments2023-07-19T05:10:59.402-07:00Comments on Graduate Grumblings: The Iraq WarBrianGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883278789876067947noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9739005.post-43522798289122604922007-10-08T08:59:00.000-07:002007-10-08T08:59:00.000-07:00I am not sure we shouldn't pull out. I just think...I am not sure we shouldn't pull out. I just think we owe a debt now to the Iraqi's and should do everything in our power to make things right. <BR/><BR/>That could mean staying, or leaving as soon as possible, I don't know, negotiating with insurgent groups, allowing more Iraqi's asylum in the US, Setting up a Muslim peace keeping force - maybe made of Egyptians, Jordanians, Malaysians, Filipinos, Kuwaiti's, etc. <BR/><BR/>We definitely need to stop Guantanamo bay, Abu Ghraib, etc. And we need to be infusing dollars into reconstructing Iraq.BrianGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11883278789876067947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9739005.post-67671247140652880052007-10-06T22:52:00.000-07:002007-10-06T22:52:00.000-07:00I remember extensively debating the proposed Iraq ...I remember extensively debating the proposed Iraq war over a CU philosophy department listserv in late 2002. My chief opponent was an articulate U.S. marine, very pro-war. My instincts were against it, but I reluctantly supported an intervention for six reasons. <BR/><BR/>1) In 2002, the U.S. had a clear moral obligation to the people of Iraq for having abandoned them following the Gulf War in 1991. <BR/><BR/>2) In 2002, none of the U.N. organizations charged with ensuring Iraq’s disarmament were able to conclude that all WMD had been seized or destroyed. <BR/><BR/>3) In the post-9/11 environment, there was, worldwide, reduced tolerance for terrorist-friendly regimes, especially those with a history of non-compliance with U.N. weapons inspectors, and the government of Saddam Hussein was a known supporter of Palestinian terrorists. <BR/><BR/>4) U.S. political leaders stated repeatedly that any intervention in Iraq would be modeled on the successful Kosovo intervention of 1999, and that there would be no long-term U.S. military occupation. <BR/><BR/>5) U.S./U.N. sanctions against Iraq had killed, by 1996, at least half a million Iraqi children, and by 2002 the situation was appallingly worse; a new war, at a minimum, had the potential to change political conditions sufficiently such that these sanctions could be lifted. <BR/><BR/>6) The intervention in Iraq had morally credible supporters, and was conceived in partnership by a conservative American government and a liberal British government. Other supporters included Bernard Kouchner, founder of Doctors Without Borders; most of the U.S. House and Senate, including nearly all current presidential contenders (the exceptions are Barack Obama and Ron Paul); the president of the Mormon Church (see his op-ed, published sometime around March 2003, in the Deseret News); most previous U.S. Secretaries of State and Defense; and most U.S journalists and political writers. <BR/><BR/>Nevertheless, the Iraq War is undoubtedly one of the great moral, political, and fiscal catastrophes of the last sixty years. The lofty reasons have all fallen to earth. I agree with everything Brian wrote, save one: I think we are wrong to persist in trying to salvage this situation. We should leave. I have supported leaving for four years and I have seen nothing in four years to make me doubt the wisdom of such a policy. The Iraq Study Group concluded on 6 December 2006 that the situation in Iraq was “grave and deteriorating.” If statistics are any indication, most things have worsened since then. Our continuing efforts in Iraq demonstrate nothing but our inexhaustible vanity. There is nothing, or almost nothing, that we can do as an occupier. We resemble the British in India and the French in Algeria. It is fundamentally beyond our power to do what we are trying to do.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9739005.post-53235158162043305522007-10-05T18:52:00.000-07:002007-10-05T18:52:00.000-07:00Thanks for addressing this Brian. I totally agree...Thanks for addressing this Brian. I totally agree with you. Yes, we should not have gone in there in the first place, but we did. I feel it would be inhuman to leave those people high and dry by pulling out in 6 months as many are asking for. To me it seems like a bad bad situation. I fell like many politican want a pull out because it sounds good but I don't think it is a good idea for the rest of the world in the long run. <BR/><BR/>Where are the checks and ballances our government is supposed to have? How much power does the executive branch need to abuse until we stop them? How many civilians died during our "shock and awe" bombing of Bagdad? <BR/><BR/>The damage we have inflicted on Iraq horrible but will take a long time to fix. This war is unlike other wars we have fought.Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04384254595717611200noreply@blogger.com