Nathan Newman wrote:
>We had no idea before either because Saddam Hussein was brutalizing them.
-So you think it's ok for the U.S. to invade countries to "liberate" them?
Sometimes. Invading Nazi Germany a big thumbs up. Smaller thumbs up on Kosovo. Usually non-violent means of assisting resistance in such countries is a better option.
>And the failure of the Left to have a program for bringing democracy and a
>voice to the people of Iraq (and Afghanistan and Kosovo and etc.) without
>use of those B-52s is why it lacks the moral authority to stop any of these
>wars.
-So, as the shrinks say, what's your idea about that? A new Abraham -Lincoln brigade? A better U.S. imperialism? Isn't the liberation of -Iraq the business of Iraqis, and not Americans? -Just because isolationists said something doesn't make it wrong.
But most isolationism is on principle wrong, even if military intervention may be wrong as well. Neither Isolationism Nor Militarism! as another slogan I'd like. So how to assist such groups? Economic tools are one option. Military support for revolutionaries are another. I think the failure of the US to support the Kurds and Shia after the Gulf War was a serious betrayal of principle.
But the reality is whether the US is intervening or choosing not to intervene, both are part of US dominance of the world. Since I consider our trade policy enforcing patents as much part of imperialism as any military adventures, of course I want a "better imperialism." Yes, I'd rather have an end to open-ended US power, but since I am not alergic to reform as a step in that direction, changing US policy on AIDS patents is a reasonable demand, just as demanding that US support a democratic vote in Iraq is a reasonable demand.
And a democratic regime in Iraq is more threatening to US interests than allowing some Hussein-like dictator to arise who can just cut deals to sellout Iraqi interests to oil companies. Local dictators can with clear-eyed self-interest serve US interests just as effectively as direct US occupation. So if mere withdrawal of the US military leads to such a dictatorship, that is in no way a challenge to US imperialism.
-- Nathan Newman