Christoph Reuss wrote:
>
> Keith, Keith, why do you (or the US) complain about the Saudi & Iraqi regimes?
> You get the regimes you installed. It's no magic !
[snip]
This certainly seems true for Iraq.
Even during the "Gulf War", we decided Saddam was
preferable to the alternative: *instability*.
Now it is entirely possible that America has the
best of all possible governments which always makes
the best of all possible decisions (like Candide's Deity).
But why press our luck?
What is so bad about the current situation in Iraq,
where the U.S. has the North and South "no fly" zones
and we are pretty much free to shoot at anytthing
we say shot at us?
Furthermore, I read that the Kurds in the North are having
a renaissance: the only freedom they have ever known,
and they are convinced that another Iraq war, no
matter who wins, will be bad for them, because whoever
wins will be able to go back to repressing them -- and/or
let the Turks get back to repressing them [too?].
"Self-determination" is a strange thing. It's good for
those whose selves we [be "we" the USA, or Stalin's Russia
or whoever...] want to determine themselves, but it's
bad for others (it causes "instability"). I remember back
when my parents ridiculed me for wearing a beard "just
to be different" (which was not true but that is not
relevant here). Yesterday I heard on Public TV an
orthodox jew explaining that the reason it was important
for his people to dress differently and wear beards, etc.
was so they would be different and
thus would not get assimilated. Well, I didn't
want to get "assimilated", either (although I also
believe in "Universal Culture", but, again, that's
not relevant here). A magician's act, indeed!
--
I think we should ASAP wean ourselves off Arab oil
and then let them "sit and swivel" on their own
lubricant. Toyota should rename its Land Cruiser
model, which was the vehicle of choice of Mullah Omar
(I read he had 8 of them!), the: "Taliban", if
not the: "Tora Bora" [that could be the armored model...].
\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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