Liberate Iraq -- even with unclean hands

I am a great admirer of Reagan, whose conduct of foreign policy overall left the world a freer, safer place. But there is no way to prettify his handling of Iraq. It empowered an evil and brutal tyrant, gave free rein to his aggressive megalomania, and treated his human rights atrocities as an unimportant side issue. Had Reagan (and Carter and Bush I) seen Saddam first and foremost as a dangerous, destabilizing cutthroat rather than a "balance" to Khomeini's Iran, there is no telling how many lives might have been saved.

Maybe, maybe not. I would argue that at the time, Iraq being a "balance" to Iran played a part in the defeat of the Soviet Union, which definitely saved many lives. The Soviet threat was imminent then, like Iraq is now. You have to deal first with what you know, then what you suspect, IMHO...

To appease him, the State Department ordered ....

I think we should be hitting on the word appease as much as we can, because that is a fundamental shift we HAVE made under GW: Appeasement for Iraq is no longer an option. Period. And "appease" is something that makes the liberals recoil, if snuck in and used in good measure (or so I've found).

Thank God we have a real president again.

I would also take issue with some of Jeff's interpretation and/or the facts he presents (perhaps I'll go a-googlin'), but remember that Jeff is not known for heated Coulter-style rhetoric, but much more for trying to be the tradionational op-ed columnist; that is, one who is not preaching to the choir and thus trying to subtly shift minds and opinions. Although he gets rather fiery on Israel (and I can't blame him, given his family history).

Fair enough...I did say "maybe, maybe not", as we can't go back and do things differently, only learn from the past.

I'm glad he's making the argument that no matter the reason Saddam is in power now, the right thing to do is take him out. I've never understood the logic of "well, we put him there in the first place..."

If we were to wait for the flawless to fight for the cause of humanity and freedom, evil would prevail.

Using left wing logic, there are no such things as restitution or making ammends. A man who struck a child while driving drunk would be barred from leading a movement against drunk driving- even though such an individual would know very intimately the self-absorbed evil involved in getting behind the wheel while intoxicated.

If, historically, we had waited for the perfect to fight for the cause of compassion, Hitler would've won and millions more Jews would be dead- afterall, racism and anti-semitism were most certainly a force in allied societies, including our own.

The essay, in my opinion, shows a very confused understanding of the function of diplomacy, or the purpose of an American foreign policy. Interests in common are not permanent. Yesterday's allies may well be tomorrow's foes, and yesterday's foes may be tomorrow's allies. Being allied for a foreign objective has never been premised upon a mutual admiration of each other's domestic ethos.

This essay does not contribute any clarity to the issue of what we should or should not do with respect to Iraq in the immediate future.

Frankly, the more posts that I read on the subject, the less convinced I become, personally, that anyone has a clear grasp on more than a few of the many factors involved. I find this debate very discouraging. Not having the benefit of intelligence briefings, I have to assume that there is some real danger. Therefore, I have to believe that the President must be allowed some latitude. But those who keep trying to promote the cause of a direct United States involvement in Iraq seem to me to be making mostly counter-productive arguments.

Meanwhile, Rumsfield seems to be backing away from any confrontation in Korea. Perhaps, that is a ruse. Perhaps, Iraq is the red herring, and the next provocation from North Korea will result in the real demonstration of our military credibility--as well as our independence of action. That might be interesting, indeed.

Just some reflections on a dull Thursday.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

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