Monday, September 20, 2004
More Iraq stories
Several interesting Iraq stories. First is by a British writer, who surprisingly writes that the news from Iraq contains many positive points.
Next is a pretty funny movie clip.
Next is a link to ongoing military discussions. This site analyzes the claims being made and is evenhanded; it criticizes everyone's points. These guys bring in actual numbers and analysis rather than hysterical "Bush lied" or "Kerry is an idiot" statements. One surprise: Iraq does not actually seem to be getting worse, according to casualty figures. (look in the list for Iraq part 1 and part 2.) When you listen to "Two more American soldiers died today" day after day, it may sound like things are getting worse, but the number of deaths per month is NOT going up.
Here is an interesting analysis of Israel's fight for survival as a democracy and what it might imply for the United States.
So what do I think? We could wait for the cows to come home before "old europe" would help us. We suffered the worst attack in over 100 years on our soil with more deaths than Pearl Harbor. We had intelligence that the world agreed upon. Sadam was paying people to send their children out wearing bombs; he was a terrorist. While with the advantage of hindsight things might have been done differently, I supported and continue to support the war in Iraq.
By the way, I've been reading some interesting books about WWII and Korea. The US basically rebuilt Europe, Japan, and South Korea in a few years, and all have relatively functional democracies. Douglas Maccarther was the substitute emperor in Japan for a number of years and pushed through reforms on his personality alone. Germany was a mess, with hyperinflation and a history of military dictatorships. Korea was divided and war-torn with no history of democracy at all. We in the US can be proud of our successes. It is well worth trying in Iraq, it is not unprecedented, it can work. One year is pretty fast for what has happened there.
And for those who say that democracy cannot exist with Islam, let me say Turkey, Indonesia. Both are a ways from our idea of democracy, but they do elect their leaders. Pakistan and India also have large muslim populations and have made positive strides. Don't be a racist and refuse to give people a chance.
Next is a pretty funny movie clip.
Next is a link to ongoing military discussions. This site analyzes the claims being made and is evenhanded; it criticizes everyone's points. These guys bring in actual numbers and analysis rather than hysterical "Bush lied" or "Kerry is an idiot" statements. One surprise: Iraq does not actually seem to be getting worse, according to casualty figures. (look in the list for Iraq part 1 and part 2.) When you listen to "Two more American soldiers died today" day after day, it may sound like things are getting worse, but the number of deaths per month is NOT going up.
Here is an interesting analysis of Israel's fight for survival as a democracy and what it might imply for the United States.
So what do I think? We could wait for the cows to come home before "old europe" would help us. We suffered the worst attack in over 100 years on our soil with more deaths than Pearl Harbor. We had intelligence that the world agreed upon. Sadam was paying people to send their children out wearing bombs; he was a terrorist. While with the advantage of hindsight things might have been done differently, I supported and continue to support the war in Iraq.
By the way, I've been reading some interesting books about WWII and Korea. The US basically rebuilt Europe, Japan, and South Korea in a few years, and all have relatively functional democracies. Douglas Maccarther was the substitute emperor in Japan for a number of years and pushed through reforms on his personality alone. Germany was a mess, with hyperinflation and a history of military dictatorships. Korea was divided and war-torn with no history of democracy at all. We in the US can be proud of our successes. It is well worth trying in Iraq, it is not unprecedented, it can work. One year is pretty fast for what has happened there.
And for those who say that democracy cannot exist with Islam, let me say Turkey, Indonesia. Both are a ways from our idea of democracy, but they do elect their leaders. Pakistan and India also have large muslim populations and have made positive strides. Don't be a racist and refuse to give people a chance.
# posted by Unknown @ 2:14 PM 
