--I think Saddam is definitely a dangerous asshole. But nothing he is doing: trying to maintain control of his country, getting the biggest bang he can for his military buck given ther est of the environment, is outside the bounds of centuries of statecraft.
--I think Colin Powell has every incentive to make every piece of evdience he can show look as bad as possible.
Re Doug's comments about the Commies and ObL, two questions: --Which commies? Where? When? Which Decade? Some of the commies deserve a lot more sympathy than others. Some of the worst just live on through 2nd graders completely misstating their historical role....
--Sympathy for ObL: if you like mass murder to make a policatical statement or to extract revenge for real or perceived slights, or you just admire tactical brilliance no matter what the consequences, chalk one up for Osama. No way am I signing up for anything to do with the Osama / Al Qaeda political ideology, but if you sometimes concede the value of violence for political ends including to dislodge / disarm Saddam, you are unquestionably landing on the same spectrum with Osama.
To state the problem another way, is there anyone on lbo-talk who would not liket o get rid of Saddam at this point? But how many of us are also appalled by the military's proposals to flatten Bagdad with two days of cruise missile bombardment? And do we seriously think the US intends to do this OR is there the slightest possibility this hyperbole is being deployed for rhetorical effect? How many of us would be thrilled for options that get rid of Saddam but DO NOT lead to Us-installed successors? (Okay, I am stuck on that question!)
MOre ina second.
DoreneC
In a message dated 2/5/2003 1:05:39 PM Pacific Standard Time, dhenwood at panix.com writes:
> Subj:Re: ex-radical
> Date:2/5/2003 1:05:39 PM Pacific Standard Time
> From:<A HREF="mailto:dhenwood at panix.com">dhenwood at panix.com</A>
> Reply-to:<A HREF="mailto:lbo-talk at lists.panix.com">lbo-talk at lists.panix.com</A>
> To:<A HREF="mailto:lbo-talk at lists.panix.com">lbo-talk at lists.panix.com</A>
> Sent from the Internet
>
>
>
> Reed Tryte wrote:
>
> >The same strange vagueness seems to afflict most
> >people making this case. Unless I've missed something,
> >Peter K. still hasn't, despite being asked by several
> >people (including me), explained who the "leftist
> >flacks for Saddam and Osama" are. I guess it's enough
> >just to assert they exist, rather than going to the
> >trouble of naming them and quoting what they've said.
>
> Hey, it's just like calling someone a comsymp during the Cold War.
> Very effective, even if you've got no evidence. Except that the
> Commies were worthy of more sympathy than ObL.
>
> Doug
>
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