Hi Luke,
>I think there is one valid point well-hidden here: some of the regimes
that
>the US has aided varying degrees have turned out to be quite atrocious,
and
>I see no reason why the left should deter efforts to rectify past wrongs
>unless it truly is inevitable that past wrongs will be repeated. I think
a
>true US (or Soviet) puppet government in Afghanistan would be preferable
to
>the Taliban.
It's OK in principle to rectify past wrongs, but intervention doesn't always result in improvement and can make matters worse. If I believed the US really was a force for democracy and freedom in the world, which Bush and countless talking heads like Laura Ingrahm (sp? - she's got a talk show which comes in in the evening out here) keep repeating ad nauseum, I might agree with you. But the US has a miserable track record. When the US intervenes in foreign countries, especially poor and weak countries like Afghanistan, it invariably backs some tyrannical local despot who has no interest in freedom or democracy. So when wondering whether or not past wrongs will be repeated, the track record isn't encouraging.
Brett