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Date Posted: 13:07:18 03/18/03 Tue
Author: Sarah (loves to spout her opinions about this)
Subject: Re: War, a topic we should be writing about
In reply to: Mona 's message, "War, a topic we should be writing about" on 17:49:14 03/17/03 Mon

>>Does anyone feel Bush is justified in invading Iraq for the purposes of removing Hussein?

I can't just say a clear "yes" or "no" to that. It's too simplistic to say that you're against war. Who in their right mind is "for" war as an abstract concept? But I can't just say that the U.S. is correct, because they aren't -- at least not a hundred percent. I think mainly what I'm trying to get at here is that I agree with the objective of the war but not the methodology of it. I find it hard to believe that the U.S. needs to send in thousands of men simply to remove the key proponents of a government. I would like to think that with all the money in their defense budget, they'd be able to do this without killing a bunch of Iraqi civilians. But I've a strong feeling that this will turn out like the first "attack on terrorism" -- lots of dead Afghani citizens and no Osama to show for it. In the Persian Gulf War, the American media (guided by the American government) lied about the effectiveness of their bombs, and I certainly wouldn't put it past them to do it.

It's also pretty clear to me that Bush has his own agenda. First of all, he's quite cleverly avoiding discussion of the recent economic downturn in his own country, and siphoning funds from social programs and other welfare-oriented departments into his war effort. Secondly, he's doing quite a number on his people. I read in a Reuters poll that 74% of Americans now believe that Iraq was behind the September 11. Pretty impressive spin doctoring. The recent wave of hate sentiment aimed at the French is also indicative of this -- all France did was go by the provisions set out by the United Nations, and yet suddenly they're restrictors of freedom.

Saddam Hussein, while a terrible dictator, is not the only one responsible for the suffering of his people. The economic sanctions placed on Iraq by the U.N. (and strongly supported by the U.S.) are probably more devastasting to the Iraqi people than any sort of bombs are -- which is funny, since economic sanctions are often considered the more humane way to deal with the world's aggressors. However, the ones placed on Iraq are so severe that no one can get food, clothes, or even school equipment for children (I suppose the U.N. might consider a pencil a weapon of mass destruction) -- but obviously these sanctions haven't affected the Iraqi government's ability to obtain weapons and whatnot. Like a lot of state actions, these sanctions have done nothing to Saddam, and they've severely wounded the poor.

That being said, I don't support the anti-war faction in this case. Not to launch a tirade against hippies (heh), I find most of the anti-war protests and arguments to be unfocused and more in the realm of idealism than realism. I dislike the fact that the most vocal anti-war voices in this matter seem to be some of the more ignorant ones. And I do think that Saddam Hussein needs to be removed from power. What scares me, most of all, is that no one seems to care about the Iraqi citizenry. If I truly believed that this war was meant to help the Iraqi people, then I would support it. But it's not. The U.S. and the U.N. don't care about that -- otherwise viable relief efforts would already be in place. It's about personal agendas and -- as much as I hate to say this -- oil. If it weren't about oil, then the U.S. would be setting its sight on North Korea, which has a larger nuclear arsenal and better means to attack the U.S.

Er -- that was long. I have quite a bit more to say, especially about the media's role in all of this, but I've got to go to work now. I hope someone replies. *nudge nudge*

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