-Caveat Lector- I'm no lover of Sharon - but he is really a red herring in this article.
on 10/18/02 3:20 AM, Euphorian at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > -Caveat Lector- > > From > http://www.iht.com/articles/73960.html > > > Copyright © 2002 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com > > American policymakers awash in fantasy > > William Pfaff IHT > > > Thursday, October 17, 2002 > > > Re-educate the Iraqis? > > PARIS Even before the newspaper reports of a plan for lasting military > occupation of Iraq, > on the model of the post-World War II occupation of Japan, the debate over war > with Iraq > was awash with unchecked fantasies about the future. > > The debate has mostly consisted of unproved assertions about Iraq's weapons or > lack of > them; about the threat that it does, or does not, pose to its neighborhood or > Israel or the > United States; and about its connection, or lack of connection, with > international terrorism. > > It is a highly emotional argument untroubled by much fact. The outcome will > apparently be > decided by whoever last has the president's ear. The Senate, constitutional > custodian of the > power to go to war, has abdicated to George W. Bush, conceding to him greater > discretion > than to any president in history. This is not the conduct of a serious > government or a > serious nation. > > War is a grave matter even for a country that fancies itself invincible. One > does not attack > another society, inflict destruction upon it, kill its soldiers and people and > send one's own > soldiers to death on the basis of speculation, hypothesis and partisan > theories about the > future. > > The United States has never before gone to war without a clear and factually > uncontroversial casus belli. > > In the Gulf War it was Iraq's aggression against Kuwait. In Vietnam it was > Communist > insurrection against a recognized government. The merits of America's > intervention in these > wars were certainly controversial, but the facts of aggression, and the facts > of insurrection, > were there. > > Today there is as yet no incontrovertible fact that justifies war against > Iraq. That is why > there is such a controversy. Sending the United Nations inspectors back might > produce > some facts to replace speculation. > > Bush supporters now have offered a new theory about American-led peaceful > revolution in > the region, its democratization and peaceful economic transformation, with > reform of > Islamic religious thought so as to reconcile Islam with modern Western > culture. The newly > disclosed plan for military occupation of a defeated Iraq makes up part of > this theory. The > occupation will reform and "re-educate" Iraq, supposedly in the way imperial > Japan and > Nazi Germany were remade after 1945. > > Only people who know little about Japan and Germany in the 1940s could make > such an > assumption. > > Historical ignorance, however deplorable, is not considered an impediment to > policy-making > in today's Washington. But the people putting these ideas forward cannot > pretend to be > ignorant of political Washington, the nature and preoccupations of the U.S. > Congress today > and the temper of American public opinion. > > The numbers offered in Washington concerning such a military occupation are > between > 75,000 and 100,000 troops. This is roughly one-fifth of the total personnel of > the existing > regular army of the United States. And The cost of an occupation is estimated > at some $16 > billion per year. That is more than 4 percent of the total U.S. military > budget for fiscal 2003, > including the post-Sept. 11 Bush administration's military budget increase. > > There is no possibility whatever that the American government and public would > make such > a commitment of men and money to Iraq. > > Would other countries pay? Not if there had been no United Nations mandate for > the war. > > Europe after 1945 simply needed to have its economy rebuilt. That is what > Marshall Plan > money accomplished. The Marshall Plan did not reform or transform European > society, nor > was it expected to do so. > > Japan, like Europe, had an advanced industry in 1941. It would not otherwise > have been > able to put up a ferocious three-and-a-half-year defense against American > offensives in the > Central and Southwestern Pacific and against the British/Indian advance in > South Asia. > > Japan in 1945 was also an intensely corporate, authoritarian and hierarchical > society. By > leaving the emperor in place, and acting with his consent and authority, the > MacArthur > occupation was able to conduct a peaceful reform of the Japanese government, > economy > and educational system. The Japanese authorities policed the country, not the > American > occupation. > > There was no resistance. Would there be resistance to American occupation of > Iraq? It is > another agreeable fantasy to think that American soldiers would be cheered as > they > arrived, and be encouraged by the Iraqis to take over their country. > > What would George W. Bush do, though, if the Iraqi army put up a serious > fight, and if the > Iraqi public resisted an American occupation? What Ariel Sharon is doing? > International > Herald Tribune Los Angeles Times Syndicate International > > Copyright © 2002 The International Herald Tribune > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > A<>E<>R > + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + > Forwarded as information only; I don't believe everything I read or send > (but that doesn't stop me from considering it; obviously SOMEBODY thinks it's > important) > + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + > In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed > without charge or > profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of > information for > non-profit research and educational purposes only. > + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + > + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + > "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep > your mouth > shut." > --- Ernest Hemingway > > <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> > DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER > ========== > CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic > screeds are unwelcomed. Substance‹not soap-boxing‹please! These are > sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'‹with its many half-truths, mis- > directions and outright frauds‹is used politically by different groups with > major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. > That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and > always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no > credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. > > Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. > ======================================================================== > Archives Available at: > http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html > <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of > [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> > > http://archive.jab.org/ctrl@;listserv.aol.com/ > <A HREF="http://archive.jab.org/ctrl@;listserv.aol.com/">ctrl</A> > ======================================================================== > To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: > SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: > SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Om -- To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Theodore Roosevelt NEURONAUTIC INSTITUTE on-line: http://home.earthlink.net/~thew <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http://archive.jab.org/ctrl@;listserv.aol.com/ <A HREF="http://archive.jab.org/ctrl@;listserv.aol.com/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
