[lbo-talk] Iraq, the left and the 'resistance' (Geras blog)

Stephen E Philion philion at hawaii.edu
Mon Feb 9 12:11:18 PST 2004


I don't like Geras' position on the war, but I thought he made a decent point in criticizing Pilger for urging support for the resistance.

--i dunno, no resistance, no pressure for real elections, no barriers to privatization...The US has an easy time wiping out any resistance and sets up its puppet government... ---------------------------------------------------- Why should we support people who are trying to take over Iraq by blowing up civilians?

--I don't know who I should support in Iraq, at this point its occupied and it matters little who we support really. In fact, the only thing that matters as far as whether the US population will be up in arms over this mess is whether or not Americans die in large numbers in Iraq, I wish it were otherwise, but nothing else seems to really matter. ------------------------------------- As you keep pointing out, the occupation is an important issue and it's worth thinking about what we're for and what we're not.

--I'm against the occupation, it's illegal and immoral. Geras supports the occupation, thinks it's a great idea, thus his attempt to smear in any way those who support any faction of the resistance to the occupation. -------------------------------- Fulminating about the awfulness of the invasion just seems like a way of avoiding Geras' argument.

--it gets to the heart of the matter I think. If Geras thinks the solution to the horror of civilians dying when one or another faction of the anti-occupation resistance acts is supporting the occupation, he's dead wrong and the facts on the ground bear that out. I don't see why we have to run from that, as though Geras has something on us.



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