On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 22:39:11 -0400, JDG wrote > Gautam's point was that he doesn't feel that you are acknowledging that > *not* going to war has costs as well. You responded with a > discussion of the costs of going to war.
And how are they different? Is there an important distinction between the suffering of an Iraqi being executed or tortured and an American soldier being blown to bits or shot by a sniper? Is there a difference between the suffering of a child dying of malnutrition in Mexico and an American crushed under the World Trade Center? Is there an important difference between children starving in Central American, where I've been, and children starving in Iraq, where I haven't been? In case it still isn't clear, I was saying that not only do I know the cost of not doing anything about poverty, injustice, terrorism and torture, I've been with people who are paying those costs, touched them, listened to them. The problem of suffering is hardly limited to Iraq, so the idea that it is *obvious* that we had to spend untold billions making war against that country, even as people suffer and die in many places around the world makes no sense to me. The utilitarian arguments for war certainly become moot by considering the fact that for the money we're spending on this war, we could be saving far, far, far more lives by providing food and health care around the globe. The fact that we imagine we can solve one problem through force doesn't mean that it's okay to ignore myriad others that would take a bit more subtlety. > This is a partial sports score, its like saying "Baltimore 2" > without at all mentioning the other half. Only if you believe that we're on different teams, or that war is a sporting match, that the rest of the world is the audience, rather than being our companions in problems and solutions. > Under Saddam Hussein, many families were losing loved ones directly > to torture, disappearances, and summary executions. Tens of > thousands of others were losing their beloved children because > Saddam Hussein was spending the country's oil revenue on palaces and > weapons rather than basic food and medicine. Isn't that *exactly* what is happening in the United States right now? We've had tax cuts for the wealthiest, poverty is increasing and the war budget is skyrocketing. At what point does this justify an invasion? Nick _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
