> Round and round the debate goes, pouring a torrent
> of words onto the wire. The arguments orbit the
> globe at a far remove from the events under
> discussion.
>
> There is however, a simple way beyond the impasse.
> John Lacny has described it again and again in detail
> with discipline and patience.
All the praise aside, I have to credit Dwayne for getting my point. I have been saying that many of the people carrying out armed actions against the occupation are clearly gangsters who have no support from the oppressed Iraqi majority; some of them really are Sunni jihadis or Ba'athist holdovers who fear nothing more than a government in Iraq responsive to the needs of the Shi'ite majority. However, I have NOT been saying that all armed actions against the occupation are ipso facto the actions of gangsters. Some of them may be legitimate. It is very hard to tell from my perch.
So for example, without knowing anything about the politics of the people who carried out the attack on the police station the other day, I would say that it looks very much like the kind of tactic a legitimate resistance movement would employ -- attacking a police station, probably minimizing civilian casualties, and freeing prisoners. But beyond that, I don't really know anything. What was the goal of the people who did it? What sort of ideology or -- more importantly -- practical political considerations motivated them? I don't know, so I am not prepared to say whether it was really to be welcomed.
What I CAN say is that there are people in Iraq who are doing things that progressives can support unequivocally -- I've given the example of the two union federations numerous times. I have little doubt that these people occasionally resort to armed struggle, especially in self-defense -- it's just that they don't broadcast it for the edification of people who hanker after "pick up the gun" rhetoric. Finding ways to support these people is critical.
- - - - - John Lacny
People of the US, unite and defeat the Bush regime and all its running dogs!