Bush's War
Mar. 18th, 2003 11:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liralenAh well. Every time I write something about all this it sounds too simplistic to me, but maybe it doesn't have to be complex when I just talk about how I feel about the whole thing.
It was funny watching Bush's little speech last night. Mostly because I'd just read Fear Less and there's a section in there about how to interpret alarmist TV, and there was one thing that really stuck with me. When someone speaks of a 'threat' the realistic assessment is that someone can't do anything and isn't doing anything, but they're talking. A threat is just someone talking and they're most likely not capable of doing anything otherwise they'd be doing it, not talking.
So Bush's taking all the threats of what's possible as a real reason to go kill people seems all the more ludicrous.
I'll make no bones about it. I voted against this administration. I was afraid of most of the things they're now pushing like its gospel. I think they're stupid, bull-headed, insensitive, and willing to grab as much power as possible at the expense of those civil rights that people died to defend for this country by making all the people now here afraid as possible as to what MIGHT happen without them holding the reins. I think they're pushing this war for purely political reasons, and that they have Iraq and North Korea lined up as 'threats' to make sure that they stay in power. Only North Korea surprised them and jumped their gun so they're pacifying the very power they once said they'd never back down to. Plus they've completely ignored the reports of competent intelligence agents that say that by going to war there's a far greater chance that if Hussan has anything that he will becoming willing to give those devices to terrorists.
The Bush administration hasn't a moral pebble to stand on. Between assassinating people, bombing the Red Cross twice in Afghanistan, playing with who gets to go to what court simply because of the profile of the defendant, and picking up people with no direct cause it's not like this administration can say that they're enforcing the rule of law.
Don't get me wrong, though. I believe, deeply, that war has its place. That there are times when arms must be taken up for the common good. I just think this particular little brouhaha that Bush has created out of his own need (to one up his dad? to help get votes? to keep people worried so that he seems the only one that can help?) is wrong and stupid.
I'll also admit that I don't think that this particular administration has or uses (what a waste of Powell's abilities) the capabilities or tools to do anything BUTa war in order to deal with the real problem Hussan presents and the potential problem of some weapons that he does probably have. They are real problems. And 30 days of people who know this shit ferreting out more with better cooperation would probably do better than this stronghanded ultimatum that's more likely to squirt any hidden items to people who really want to use them.
Ultimatums are not negotiation devices, they're simply a way to trigger someone into doing the worst they can. Which they had experience with North Korea, and had to back down from their ultimatum, but they seem to have chosen to ignore that.
Anyway.
After all that, I'm supporting, to heck and back, the people that are going to have to go out and do this shit. There's a lady that organized, a while back, a way to get knit items to solders and sailors who need them. They'll take postage (they've gone through $40k worth already), socks, hats, and slippers, and since most of their clients are men on duty, bigger sizes and darker colors are appreciated, but making them individual is pretty cool. Send checks and items to:
Ellen Harpin
P.O. Box 564
Goldenrod, FL 32733-0564
If you want to know more details Lion Brand Yarns has more details, but their site has been swamped after last night's little declaration.
And, what the heck, I'll do the LJ trendy thing and say, "I wish for peace."
But if we're going to war, I'll also wish that the people going out and doing it all the luck and skill and technology to get it done fast, thorough, and complete. I don't want our folks getting hurt. I'll also wish the folks watching our shores, our cities, and our security luck and the bravery to look stupid when reporting something they think is wrong.
It was funny watching Bush's little speech last night. Mostly because I'd just read Fear Less and there's a section in there about how to interpret alarmist TV, and there was one thing that really stuck with me. When someone speaks of a 'threat' the realistic assessment is that someone can't do anything and isn't doing anything, but they're talking. A threat is just someone talking and they're most likely not capable of doing anything otherwise they'd be doing it, not talking.
So Bush's taking all the threats of what's possible as a real reason to go kill people seems all the more ludicrous.
I'll make no bones about it. I voted against this administration. I was afraid of most of the things they're now pushing like its gospel. I think they're stupid, bull-headed, insensitive, and willing to grab as much power as possible at the expense of those civil rights that people died to defend for this country by making all the people now here afraid as possible as to what MIGHT happen without them holding the reins. I think they're pushing this war for purely political reasons, and that they have Iraq and North Korea lined up as 'threats' to make sure that they stay in power. Only North Korea surprised them and jumped their gun so they're pacifying the very power they once said they'd never back down to. Plus they've completely ignored the reports of competent intelligence agents that say that by going to war there's a far greater chance that if Hussan has anything that he will becoming willing to give those devices to terrorists.
The Bush administration hasn't a moral pebble to stand on. Between assassinating people, bombing the Red Cross twice in Afghanistan, playing with who gets to go to what court simply because of the profile of the defendant, and picking up people with no direct cause it's not like this administration can say that they're enforcing the rule of law.
Don't get me wrong, though. I believe, deeply, that war has its place. That there are times when arms must be taken up for the common good. I just think this particular little brouhaha that Bush has created out of his own need (to one up his dad? to help get votes? to keep people worried so that he seems the only one that can help?) is wrong and stupid.
I'll also admit that I don't think that this particular administration has or uses (what a waste of Powell's abilities) the capabilities or tools to do anything BUTa war in order to deal with the real problem Hussan presents and the potential problem of some weapons that he does probably have. They are real problems. And 30 days of people who know this shit ferreting out more with better cooperation would probably do better than this stronghanded ultimatum that's more likely to squirt any hidden items to people who really want to use them.
Ultimatums are not negotiation devices, they're simply a way to trigger someone into doing the worst they can. Which they had experience with North Korea, and had to back down from their ultimatum, but they seem to have chosen to ignore that.
Anyway.
After all that, I'm supporting, to heck and back, the people that are going to have to go out and do this shit. There's a lady that organized, a while back, a way to get knit items to solders and sailors who need them. They'll take postage (they've gone through $40k worth already), socks, hats, and slippers, and since most of their clients are men on duty, bigger sizes and darker colors are appreciated, but making them individual is pretty cool. Send checks and items to:
Ellen Harpin
P.O. Box 564
Goldenrod, FL 32733-0564
If you want to know more details Lion Brand Yarns has more details, but their site has been swamped after last night's little declaration.
And, what the heck, I'll do the LJ trendy thing and say, "I wish for peace."
But if we're going to war, I'll also wish that the people going out and doing it all the luck and skill and technology to get it done fast, thorough, and complete. I don't want our folks getting hurt. I'll also wish the folks watching our shores, our cities, and our security luck and the bravery to look stupid when reporting something they think is wrong.
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no subject
Date: 2003-03-18 11:33 am (UTC)1) the summer months are approaching, where it will be too hot to fight a war, and
2) waiting for cooler weather means letting it become an election issue.
In short, I believe Bush is willing to kill people to win the next election.
I don't think he has the moral reasoning capacity to realize that, but that doesn't excuse it.
What infuriates me is how well he's managed to spin this pack of lies. The last UN Security Council resolution passed *only* because the compromise language stated that the inspectors would report back to the Security Council, and then decisions would be made. He's lied to the UN Security Council, and then is blaming the French and Germans for daring to insist that the resolution gets followed.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-18 11:49 am (UTC)And, yeah, the whole lying thing has just made me so mad it's hard to comment on it clearly. There's been so many ways this guy's spun so many things it just enrages me sometimes.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-18 11:55 am (UTC)But I do believe that Saddam really needs to get taken down. He's been given every chance to disarm, and he's done everything he could to muddy the issue instead of providing clear and incontrovertable proof he's doing it. For crying out loud, he's had thirteen years.
Whistling in the dark and hoping these trouble spots somehow resolve themselves isn't going to make them go away.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-18 01:23 pm (UTC)The question is whether a nation should unilaterally, in violation of the UN Charter, declare war and invade a nation that has taken no aggressive action because its leader is a bad guy. Since when are the leaders of sovereign nations supposed to be "taken down" by other nations? Since Bush has pissed off the entire world, if the rest of the world suggests Bush needs to be "taken down", will you apply the same logic and support them?
By *every* account Iraq and Saddam are far weaker than they were a dozen years ago, when *they* were the aggressors (invading a nation against whom they had a grievance -- we used to disapprove of this sort of behavior, remember? The whole civilized world still does). They do have to be "dealt with" -- but since when was war the only way of "dealing with" someone we dislike?
Now, granted, Bush is so incompetent at diplomacy that things are getting worse all over the world -- but the solution is to be better at diplomacy, not announce that since we can't be bothered to use our formidable economic or diplomatic muscles, we must make war on everything we think is a "trouble spot".
Even Stalin understood something about this. If a town has a hundred dissidents, and you send the soldiers into that town, line up the hundred dissidents and shoot them all, what you are left with is a town with a thousand dissidents.
We are making things far more dangerous and far worse for ourselves.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-18 02:38 pm (UTC)At any rate, it's not entirely unilateral. Britain is with us; most European countries that aren't France or Germany seem to be at least neutral (and now France has said they'll sign on if they see proof of Iraqi chemical weapons).
Anyway, that's my stance on the matter. I probably won't be changing anyone's minds, and mine probably won't either, so I'll just agree to disagree and leave it at that.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-18 02:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-18 05:12 pm (UTC)I usually hate talking about politics as it makes me feel so helpless. Especially when the Big Boys are doing things that really piss me off.
You're responses have impressed me as well. And, yeah, it's not about whether Saddam Hussan deserves to die or get kicked out of a position of power as it's pretty clear he's not doing well by anyone but himself, it's about following the rule of law even against people who don't. Or maybe especially against people who don't.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-18 09:36 pm (UTC)The UN may be a joke in some respects, and thoroughly tainted by politics and compromise in others, but.... it's a more or less worldwide effort to sit down and resolve problems by talking rather than fighting. To establish some standards for human rights and civilization.
I'm kind of amazed it has lasted this long and done the good things that it has.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-19 08:38 am (UTC)I especially like how it isn't just the U.S.'s errand boy, and how it does stand up for what it believes are real humanitarian concerns. I like how the U.N. goes in and does the dirty work of cleaning up the mess in real lives after the U.S. or other big powers have had their play day. They're the ones driving landmine cleanup, trying to clean up after all the spent nuclear waste, provide clean water in rural areas, teaching kids all over the world to read, getting food to those that really need it past other political barriers, and helping people learn to live. They're the ones keeping most of Africa in a peaceful state, getting high-handed dictators to make concessions for their people's sake, and connecting otherwise isolated states.
It's not flashy stuff. It's not pyrotechnics and assasinations. It's just making the world a more peaceful and understanding place. Boring. 'A Joke' to some, eviserated of 'power' by others, but I think it's the best chance humanity has on the planet, as it respects the soverienty of all the countries that are, whether it's fashionable or not, and it's not 'rule by who ever is most powerful at the moment'.
I'm glad it's lasted. I'm glad that it's doing what it can, despite the U.S. goverment's temper tantrums and switching to a new personality ever four to eight years. They're the ones that organized the people that should have the know-how to get to the weapons that were secreted away. And they've kept the moral ground when the U.S. flung it away for the sake of expediency and fireworks.
So yeah, I think that this bit of 'talking instead of fighting' has been very cool.
*hugs*