> Although I read LBO, I'm just a lurker on the list but I must say I
>don't totally understand where Doug & some of you are coming from. For
>myself I supported Kosovo but not this war. To me they are very
>different. Many leftists (Doug, Galbraith) seem to feel just the
>reverse of me about which war might be considered just.
> In Kosovo, we were enabling Albanians to stay in their homes rather
>than being murdered and forced to flee, thus averting a refugee problem
>that could long-term destabilize a critical area of the world.
> In Afghanistan, we are driving people from their homes, likely
>destabilizing a critical area of the world, certainly causing great
>suffering. Refugees, long-term, cause huge problems, and for decades.
How many times do I have to say I don't support the bombing campaign and I don't support the essentially unilateral action by the U.S.? I said many times now that I support some multilateral action, under UN auspices, to investigate the crime and arrest the perps. I've also said that arresting the perps might be a very messy operation, as necessary as I think it is.
Important difference between present sitch and Kosovo, a point I've also made many times: we were attacked, and ObL & Co. have sworn to kill many more of us. Kosovo was none of our damn business.
I don't know how to make this any clearer.
Doug