A liberal's argument for war.....

[sarettah]

http://www.deanesmay.com/archives/000769.html

February 08, 2003

UK and Iraqi News

It's been floating around from various sources that Tony Blair's report on Iraq was in part plagiarized from an academic paper. Anti-war activists have seized on this as proof of perfidy. What they don't much point out, however, is that there's no disputing any of the evidence in the report, nor that it wasn't the only source, nor that nothing in it contradicts the evidence that Colin Powell laid out last week.

I was also surprised by this extraordinarily combative interview with Tony Blair. Clearly, he's putting up with a lot, and is holding up with extraordinary grace and courage. One has to wonder what will happen to all that resistance he's facing if the security council sees the handwriting on the wall and approves military action.

What continues to astound me is how few pundits point out the incredible cruelty of the anti-war position. It assumes that Iraqis are incapable of living under real democracy, even though that's already been disproven in northern Iraq. It also virtually requires that we continue the no-fly zones forever, and that we also continue the terrible economic sanctions to prevent Saddam from getting too powerful. Those sanctions hurt everyone in Iraq.

Those who talk about how expensive this will be don't talk about how expensive it is to maintain those no-fly zones, and to keep Iraqi oil off the market. They don't talk about how, if they were free to sell their oil (i.e. if we lifted the sanctions), they could largely pay fo their own reconstruction.

It is in America's best interests to see a free Iraq. It is also in the interests of the Iraqi people. I increasingly fail to see how anyone can argue that it is anything but the height of cruelty to continue this charade of no-fly zones and economic sanctions while leaving that monster free to oppress the rest of the country. I can understand people who are afraid of war, but I can't understand--anymore--people who won't acknowledge that leaving Saddam in power is a horrifically heartless thing to do.

Speaking of which, thanks to Lynn S., I jut came across this astonishing blog maintained by a resident of Baghdad. He fears war, mistrusts America, and ever so clearly deserves better than the monster that today stands on his neck.

We need to prove to people like this that the ideals of freedom are the birthright of all people, and that Americans can, have, and will help spread that freedom. They deserve no less