On Tuesday, March 18, 2003, at 12:50 PM, Tris Schuler wrote:
In a way I agree with your position, Rob. Then again, what's wrong
with doing what we can in the real world to affect what good change
(on balance) we might?
The last time we "did what we could" in the region the civilian
casualties were lined up in mass graves and covered over by bulldozers.
For the most part, I imagine they'd rather have been alive than "free."
;-)
Comparing America's "expansionistic" policies to those of Hitler, Mao
and Stalin is not only somewhat distasteful but ignorant of history
insofar as Mao led a state which has existed from time immemorial not
as an expansionistic nation state but rather isolationist with regard
to its world views and actions.
Actually, Mao's program of "humanitarian aid" to North Korea was what I
had in mind.
Consider: a better person to cite in your given case than Mao might
have been, say, Napoleon.
Sure, Napoleon was certainly of a more expansionist nature than Mao,
but he didn't seem to have the same disregard for civilian human life
that our administration does. We've been so impressed by the way the
Turkish forces have been able to "pacify" and eliminate their Kurdish
population that we hired several of the men in charge of that program
as advisors in Afghanistan and now we're preparing to use their
services again in Iraq. You can bet there will be more atrocities that
take years to come to light that take place during this "humanitarian
aid" mission, but that's how the U.S. works anymore. We roll into urban
areas like Panama City and we kill everything that moves and make sure
the people back home don't see any footage of the dead women and
children until the whole ordeal is well in the past.
-Rob (back to lurking)
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