Dennis Perrin wrote:
> Justin's right -- there's no way the US is leaving
> anytime soon, but if it were on the verge (needing
> only a domestic push), would the self-described
> anti-imperialists wash their hands of Iraq? I got
> that feeling with the minor noise before the
> invasion about the "human shields" who would
> place themselves in front of advancing troops or
> under fighter jets in order to supposedly save the
> common Iraqi (which of course assumes that the
> average US soldier or Marine has a conscience,
> 'else it would be mere suicide). I asked then if
> these prospective shields would try to protect
> Kurds or Shi'as from Ba'athist attacks, and
> received the predictable answer -- no. I assumed
> that a true internationalist would try to protect
> the victim from the aggressor regardless of address,
> but I was corrected on this front. So, there's a
> strong current of isolationism in "anti-imperialism,"
> at least the kind celebrated here -- which is fine, so
> long as it's conceded up front and not tarted up in
> "internationalist" verbiage.
Are you responding to more than Yoshie and Chomsky here? I think Justin, who you agree with, counts as an anti-imperialist, minus the scare quotes. He rejects the occupation, but takes the threat of chaos in Iraq seriously. I posted some thoughts (agree or not) on ending the occupation in the context of Iraq's chaos, saying advocacy of withdrawal should be a beginning, _not the end_ of the anti-war movement's campaign.
Are you using the quotes because Bring The Troops Home Now!, full-stop, is a false anti-imperialism, or because anti-imperialism is false??
FWIW, this vary chaos was born of the "internationalists" who proclaimed cruise missiles as torches of liberty, an internationalism I find no less false than hand-wringing isolationism.
-- Shane
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