[lbo-talk] Sauce for goose & gander

Carl Remick carlremick at hotmail.com
Thu Apr 10 10:59:38 PDT 2003


The ever ruminative William Safire ponders the question of Arab maturity in his NY Times column today thus: "Even in the flush of triumph [in Iraq], doubts will be raised. ... The most insulting question is this: considering their Islamist religious schisms and tribal hatreds, their tradition of monarchy and obedience to dictatorial regimes, their turbulent 'street,' easily inflamed by demagogues — how can any population of Arabs be entrusted with democracy? The answer to that is the experiment on which the Iraqis are now embarked. Most start with the advantages of being literate, not fundamentalist and extravagantly oil-rich." <http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/10/opinion/10SAFI.html>

Yes, but the Israelis too have had many advantages, and sadly they have made a perfect botch of democracy, freely electing war criminal Ariel Sharon again and again. Heretofore I would have despaired of there being any solution, but I now believe -- having heard so many hosannas about miracle of precision weaponry -- that we can provide Israelis the helping hand they so desperately need simply by taking out Sharon and his fellow Likudniks in one well-aimed strike.

No one has been more lavish in his praise of precision weaponry than Slate's William Saletan, who makes it clear (by implication at least) that whacking Sharon and his crew is not only a good idea but America's solemn duty. States Saletan: "... the number of innocent people who are dead because we ousted Saddam is dwarfed by the number of innocent people who are dead because we didn't. The use of American force is on one side of the ledger, and mass killing is on the other. Trends in military and media technology make this dilemma increasingly likely where belligerent murderers [Ariel to a T!] rule. You can keep your hands clean, or you can keep many more people alive. It's up to you."

<http://slate.msn.com/id/2081213/>

Carl

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