Archive for the 'War' Category

WMD…C’mon! No, Really!

Published
by
David
on 2008-08-07
in Politics and War
. 0 Comments

I am neither a Bush fan, nor a dissident. However, I have long wanted to write about WMD and whether or not Iraq had it. Since everyone knows that I know about that.

There is no doubt that Sadam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction. Here are a couple of things that prove it:

  • He did not deny that he had them; he defied the U.N. (not the U.S.) to make him give them up.
  • Worldwide, intelligence agencies knew that he had them.
  • He could have spared his life by proving that he did not have them.
  • We still have the thank you card from when we gave them to him in the past (our enemy’s enemy is our friend).
  • And, honestly, how do you prove that he did not? It is absurd to think that he could not have disposed of them. (That may seem lame; and it may be lame, but really, it is hard to (dis)prove. That is the beauty of that kind or statement: how can you undermine that kind of assertion?)

There are lots of reasons, ultimately, why he might or might not insist that he had them, but he was defiant about it until the end.

Tell me though, if you had a country and the U.N. told you to give up your weapons, what would be your responsibility to comply? Why should you comply? Your complicity could rightly be viewed as weakness. We love the U.N. to enforce our ideas upon others, but we don’t generally feel compelled to comply. Why should Sadam Hussein have complied?

Tell me further: when he killed his thousands (or his tens of thousands) of dissidents, was he more or less guilty than Americans are for killing their tens of millions of innocents since Roe v. Wade?

Killing and Killing

Published
by
David
on 2007-04-14
in Philosophy and War
. Closed

We have gone to Iraq to install democracy, which is still a fledgling, and practically (if not philosophically) flawed political idea. We have cited Sadam’s killing thousands of many of his own countrymen as a cause for our desire to help them. However, we are killing more in a couple of days than he may have killed in the life of his entire regime. In 2003 it was estimated that we have killed 45 million here in America with abortion/infanticide, at an even rate, that equates to 1.5 million/year (more than 2,500/day). If you took a scalpel and excised Calif. along its border, and let it drift into the sea, so that everyone drowned, that is the approximate number of children who have been killed in America since the Roe v. Wade Decision in 1973.

How did we get here? Our decision to go to war with Iraq was purportedly to find WMD in March/April 2003 (with a minor free-the-Iraquis mission while we were there). However, the initial 5 percent mission has become the 95 percent mission, and we have tried to forget about the other part all along the way.

Thoughts on this War

Published
by
David
on 2007-04-13
in Philosophy and War
. Closed

Screen Capture from “Why We Fight”I recently watched Why We Fight a BBC documentary on the Iraq War on Google Video [1|2|3|4]. It was an interesting exposé on the war. I don’t know that it was a very honest telling of the war story, but that is easy to say, since I would be reluctant to count the other side as more trustworthy.

Fox Lies Bumper Sticker Thumbnail ImageI was a soldier for 11 years and 8 months before recently leaving the service (2007.02.28). I left as a sergeant (E-5) with my first 8 years and 5 months AD, and my last 3 years and 3 months in the National Guard. While I am not of the mind that my service makes my opinion any more or less valid than someone who has never served, I think it will help to show why I have formed opinions on some things.

I am happy that I am out, though I am not arguing against the legitimacy of service or the government in the use of force in lawful circumstances. I believe that it is legitimate to serve, and as noble as the calling of a physician or a janitor. (And I would hate to do either job, or even work on my car, as I am sure many would hate to code web pages.)

One of the most frightful things about this war has very little to do with whether or not it was legitimately waged: it is, rather, that the president was allowed to wage it so single-handedly. We have in America arguably one of the most able electorate/legislative bodies in the world. In light of the evidence that was brought to them, they were quite happy (a few votes shy of a 75% super-majority) to allow the president to execute this war without their interference/input. I think it is additionally noteworthy that the vast majority of the world thought that Sadam Hussein was quite guilty of infractions against UN resolutions and more. I am not arguing that the president did or did not lie, that is hard to know for sure one way or the other with our limited evidence. I am saying that if our intelligence was poor, it was not unlike the rest of the world’s in terms of apparent quality.

Aside: I have seen back-peddling on both sides of this very partisan issue. Republicans have feigned holding the moral highground for a long time. However, when they use argumentation like well others lied, too, it does not hold a lot of water.

My point here is not to vindicate the president, my point is to point out the flawed perspective in this mess: We trust the media, proven liars, to tell us that the president is a liar. We hear the legislature chiding him, frequently, but they largley voted for him to do it. Though the percentages on both sides of the party chasm are quite notably skewed, even with that nearly super majority. I think the GOP voted nearly unanimously for him, while the Democrats voted against his control with a very simple majority.

I have not given much thought to this war in the past, for fear that I would find that we should not be there, and I might have unnecessary scruples about any part I might have had in it. I also did not want to express dissent against my Commander-in-Chief. Now I am out, and while I can now do so more freely, I do not see compelling evidence for a trustworthy source that our president acted illegitimately. That does not mean I don’t suspect anything is wrong. That means that I don’t believe the media, and am not willing to condemn him for something I cannot prove.