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Another random collection of thoughts.(Score: 2) by Arthegarn on Jul 05, 2004 - 10:45 AM | Well I haven't seen the film yet. I am waiting for Natalia to come back to Spain so we can go together. But I would like to give my own personal two cents (of an euro) about USA's foreign policy.
Feral, you say that "There are people out there, that as a result of our foreign policy, feel as strongly (if not more so) about throwing off the yoke of American Imperial Oppression as the founding fathers did about British Rule.". Yes, you are right, there are those people around. Such as?
Let's talk about Irak. Oh, yeah, sure you have been lied to about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, but that's internal policy and I would like to break a lance about that. Surely you all are in other fori and communities where people are not near as clever as the average Shmenger. I have discovered that for every slogan some idiot posts in such fori, I have to spend hours of well thought, well explained sotial, political and economical arguments to defend my ideas (and when we get down to religion... wow!). And that even then only a small number of people bothered to read my counterargumentation, they just skipped for the other guy's next post (and next slogan) to see how he had answered without taking the time to try to understand.
People don't want to understand. They don't want to waste the time it takes to do so. You simply can not exercise executive power trying to explain things because people don't want to be informed. And if that is so here, where we the people at least can point at Irak in a map and say some things about their (ancient) history. over there it must be excedingly difficult to try to explain complex things to the people. It's not just the average American's mistrust of the powerful. It's that they would have to start by explaining where Irak is! You can't go around trying to explain Tonybee's theory to every James, Dick and Henry (or whatever). First they don't have the formation needed to catch a glimpse of that. Second, they wouldn't believe you, you are just trying to confuse them out of their minds. They already had an idea they were cmfortable with, they don't want to change it, thank you.
It is a horrible misfortune that in the US you have to treat the people like children to get elected... and then to be able to exercise power. I'd really prefer the only superpower to be an Alpha-double-plus democracy, but sometimes it seems it's just a truckload of Epsilons who don't even vote.
Back to the point. What I mean is this: when you are in charge, sometimes a preemptive strike is neccesary. If you have to explain everything until your people understand you are at a HUGE tactical disadvantage. So you... exagerate. Instead of trying to explain this second Iraqi war as just a move in the extremely complex, three-sided chessboard of the War of Civilizations, you just say it's some sort of crusade to free the Iraqui people, or to stopl a new Hitler. THAT people understand. Trying to explain that the line between a insecticide plant and a chemical warfare one is very thin, that Irak is the IDEAL place to start a western-like democracy (big medium class, resources, almost no religious fanatics (Saddam took care of those), a will to survive and progress...), that this western-like democracy, properly helped by NATO will mean the demise of Iran and Syria (it's one thing to be talked about the maladies of democratic regimes when they are oceans apart, quite another when you see how well your Iraqui neighbour lives), and all the many reasons there were to invade (including the preemptive strike, I insist. Unruly people, Unitedstatesians. You complain about your leaders not doing anything to prevent disasters like S-11, but when they do, you complain as well because they hadn't done anything! So should your government wait or not???)
I am losing my track again. A modern state is not built up with feelings and heart. It is built with reasoning and a serene head. So what should US do? Leave Irak? Any idiot can see that would plunge the country into total chaos, most likely into a civil was that could affect Syria, Iran and Turkey. The definition of State I was taught in high school and later repeated in Law School is this: A State is the organization which holds the monopoly of the legitimate use of force over a paople and in a territory. Nowadays, there is no Iraqi state. Leave and you will see violence everywhere. No monopoly, sheer open market rules... and there is a bloody lot of demand of force Irak right now. (Incidentally that's why I opposed the departure of Spanish troops, they were needed to keep the peace).
Now it's quite easy for an Iraqui with a slogan to talk about evil invaders who came from the west. But it's pretty complex to explain the guy that he should be thankful for that "occupation", least the country would fall to civil war. Is there any doubt between you readers that this is what would happen if you left just as the Spaniards did? Now, I agree, Feral, many people hate you. And many of these are the ones who should be the most grateful. Arrogant, you say? Well, read Iraqi weblogs. Sure enough you'll read the thoughts of a pretty small segment of Iraq: those who can speak English, have access to Internet and spare time to write. But it is still a pretty good source of first-hand information.
I don't believe in the American Empire. I believe in Unitedstatesian arrogance, yeah, but not in your contry's will to rule. I simply don't. Times have changed. Sure, there are a lot of territories that fall under the rule of the US which are in the literal definition of Empire (By the way, I thought USA had relinquished its protectoreate over Guam and the Marianas ages ago, and that there was a referendum and people chose to be Unitedstatesians, am I wrong? I read it in a Clancy).
Invasion? Opression? Perhaps, I'm not going to stand for the United States here. But I wouldn't dismiss all that so easily. What are the alternatives? Something not based in idealistic worlds, please... in Spain we have a sentence: the best is an enemy of the better. And by their fruits ye shall know them, too, that's not Spanish but will do.
Don't take me wrong, I believe your President Bush is much of a clown, and a bad one at that. But I also think he is, thank God, not the one making policies.
As for American foreign policies... Histroy will tell.
Arthegarn
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