I think that the coming war is not justified (and it is very near now, we hear
the war drums loud and clear if you dont then take those earplugs off!). The
excuses for it have been stretched to their limits they will almost snap. A
decision has been made sometime ago that regime change in Baghdad is needed
and excuses for the forceful change have to be made. I do think war could have
been avoided, not by running back and forth the last two months, thats silly.
But the whole issue of Iraq should have been dealt with differently since the
first day after GW I. The entities that call themselves the international
community should have assumed their responsibilities a long time ago, should
have thought about what the sanctions they have imposed really meant, should
have looked at reports about weapons and human rights abuses a long time
before having them thrown in their faces as excuses for war five minutes
before midnight. What is bringing on this rant is the question that has been
bugging for days now: how could 'support democracy in Iraq' become to mean
'bomb the hell out of Iraq'? why did it end up that democracy wont happen
unless we go thru war? Nobody minded an un-democratic Iraq for a very long
time, now people have decided to bomb us to democracy? Well, thank you! how
thoughtful.
The situation in Iraq could have been solved in other ways than what the
world will be going thru the next couple of weeks. It cant have been that
impossible. Look at the northern parts of Iraq, that is a model that has
worked quite well, why wasnt anybody interested in doing that in the south.
Just like the US/UK UN created a protected area there why couldnt the model be
tried in the south. It would have cut off the regimes arms and legs. And once
the people see what they have been deprived off they will not be willing to go
back, just ask any Iraqi from the Kurdish areas. Instead the world watched
while after the war the Shias were crushed by Saddams army in a manner that
really didnt happen before the Gulf War. Does anyone else see the words
(Iran/not in the US interest) floating or is it me hallucinating?
And there is the matter of Sanctions. Now that Iraq has been thru a decade of
these sanctions I can only hope that their effects are clear enough for them
not to be tried upon another nation. Sanctions which allegedly should have
kept a potentially dangerous situation in Iraq in check brought a whole nation
to its knees instead. And who ultimately benefited from the sanctions? Neither
the international community nor the Iraqi people, he who was in power and
control still is. These sanctions made the Iraqi people hostages in the hands
of this regime, tightened an already tight noose around our necks. A whole
nation, a proud and learned nation, was devastated not by the war but by
sanctions. Our brightest and most creative minds fled the country not because
of oppression alone but because no one inside Iraq could make a living,
survive. And can anyone tell me what the sanctions really did about weapons?
Get real, there are always willing nations who will help, there are always
organizations which will find his money sweet. Oil-for-Food? Smart Sanctions?
Get a clue. Who do you think is getting all those contracts to supply the
people with food? who do you think is heaping money in bank accounts abroad?
It is his people, his family and the people who play his game. Abroad and in
Iraq, Iraqis and non-Iraqis.
Do support democracy in Iraq. But dont equate it with war. What will happen
is something that could/should have been avoided. Dont expect me to wear a [I
heart bush] t-shirt. Support democracy in Iraq not by bombing us to hell and
then trying to build it up again (well that is going to happen any way) not by
sending human shields, but by keeping an eye on what will happen after the
war.