[thechat] Arguments for war

[Tara Cleveland]

Judah McAuley wrote:
> That being said, I've actually started to find some reasonably
> intelligent analysis that supports the idea of taking out Saddam Hussein
> (and going even farther).  I'm pretty anti-war but there are arguments
> to made made that sometimes its the best option.
>
> I wanted to pass on a thought provoking piece that I read today
> advocating such a position:
>
> http://denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2002/09/Whoisourenemy.shtml
>

This is the biggest load of horseshit I've *ever* read. The 7 deep flaws
that he bases his argument on are written by a pulp-fiction novelist. His
assertions are racist, imperialist and completely unsubstantiated.

How about this one:
"They have nothing whatever they can point to that can save face and
preserve their egos. In every practical objective way we are better than
they are, and they know it."

Or this lovely specimen:
"We" are the western democracies, but in particular "we" are the United
States, which is the most successful of the western democracies by a long
margin. America is the most successful nation in the history of the world,
economically and technologically and militarily and even culturally."

Most of the rest of the world - not just "the Arabs" would heartily disagree
with this. Actually, they'd probably agree to your face, slap you on the
back, escort you out of the bar and then laugh uproariously when you were
out of earshot.

Or how about this:
"The problem is that they are armed with 20th century weapons, which may
eventually include nuclear weapons. And they embrace a culture which honors
dying in a good cause, which means that deterrence can't be relied on if
they get nuclear weapons."

- Umm excuse me? Western culture doesn't honour dying for what they believe
is a good cause? Many many years of honouring fallen war heros on November
11 would tell me that is a characteristic of both cultures. We have plenty
of examples in our own culture of glorifying war and sacrificing thousands
of young men and women in the name of a good cause.

"The chance of Israeli or Pakistani or Indian nukes being used against us is
acceptably small. If Arabs get them, then eventually one *will* be used
against us." [my emphasis]

- Okay, now he's a psychic too.

"It became our war when al Qaeda started bringing it to our nation. With a
series of successively more deadly attacks culminating in the attacks in NYC
and Washington last year, it became clear that we in the United States could
no longer ignore it, and had to start working actively to remove the danger
to us. We didn't pick this war, it picked us, but we can't turn away from
it. If we ignore it, it will keep happening."

- I'm sorry, but if this guy had *any* clue, he'd realise that the US was
sticking it's nose into the Middle East long before the "war" was brought to
US shores. Just because the general population of the US wasn't paying any
attention to what it's government was doing in the region, doesn't mean that
they weren't stirring up lots of anger, resentment and the fostering the
conditions that breed terrorism.

This whole article is full of de-humanising, baseless, racist crap. He is
advocating the complete destruction of an entire way of life. *He* says that
the Arab culture would be unrecognisable if his prescription is followed
out. Despite his assertions, he isn't advocating another Germany or Japan
situation - it's something entirely different. Both German and Japanese
culture are still recognisable. This article would probably be considered
hate literature here in Canada.

I could go on, but the article is really long, and there's too much that I'd
like to respond to...

> Is cultural genocide called for?  Is there a dangerous meme in
> Arabic/Islamic culture that needs to be wiped out?  Is that even possible?
>
> Food for thought.

No it's food for people trying to justify violent racism and advocating a
war against an entire people, because they believe the culture of those
people is inferior to their own. Haven't we learned anything in the last few
hundred years?

Disgusting. It makes me feel physically ill.

Tara