> You Call This Normal? The New York Times in Fallujah
22 April 2005, 21:29
"Saddam for all his faults (no more than any other dictator that Washington has supported)"
Really? Saddam = Noriega = Marcos = Pinochet? And since France sold five times more weapons to Saddam than the USA, and Russia five times more than France, when did those two governments decide that he’s bad news?
Uh, in comparing countries, I assume we’re comparing governments, cultures, and societies? If so, I feel pretty comfortable saying that Australia is better than Afghanistan, that Japan is better than Serbia . . . I could go on, but I’d just needlessly annoy people other than Afghans and Serbs. To say all countries are the same is to say they are static, and they’re not. At any given moment, some are getting better and some are getting worse. To deny that is to deny the hope of improvement. I guarantee you that a society that practices slavery is worse than one that doesn’t. In that sense, America is certainly a better country now than it was 160 years ago. Do you deny that?
By the way, as far as the invasion being "illegal," it was much more "legal" than NATO’s undeclared war on Serbia (which was long overdue, but should have been done differently—and without the USA), as well as France’s recent unilateral invasion of the Ivory Coast. (No one cares about this except for the Ivorians, parrticularly the dead ones.) I can connect the dots if you want—I’m just making the point that I don’t feel the need to "apologize" for the invasion.
"Saddam for all his faults (no more than any other dictator that Washington has supported)"
Really? Saddam = Noriega = Marcos = Pinochet? And since France sold five times more weapons to Saddam than the USA, and Russia five times more than France, when did those two governments decide that he’s bad news?
Uh, in comparing countries, I assume we’re comparing governments, cultures, and societies? If so, I feel pretty comfortable saying that Australia is better than Afghanistan, that Japan is better than Serbia . . . I could go on, but I’d just needlessly annoy people other than Afghans and Serbs. To say all countries are the same is to say they are static, and they’re not. At any given moment, some are getting better and some are getting worse. To deny that is to deny the hope of improvement. I guarantee you that a society that practices slavery is worse than one that doesn’t. In that sense, America is certainly a better country now than it was 160 years ago. Do you deny that?
By the way, as far as the invasion being "illegal," it was much more "legal" than NATO’s undeclared war on Serbia (which was long overdue, but should have been done differently—and without the USA), as well as France’s recent unilateral invasion of the Ivory Coast. (No one cares about this except for the Ivorians, parrticularly the dead ones.) I can connect the dots if you want—I’m just making the point that I don’t feel the need to "apologize" for the invasion.