> As for Iraq: I am just confused. I have read
> all the posts and followed the links provided
> to increase my knowledge, but just see it as one
> big mess. Is it moral just to pull out after all
> the devastation we caused? Do we stay and try to
> rebuild? Does that make us a colonial power? And
> what about the differences among the Iraqi people themselves?
>
> Invading and occupying their country was a huge moral
> mistake. But how do we correct it without committing another one?
I don't think there is a way out/"exit strategy" that doesn't compound the practical and moral wrongs committed by going in. That's the hell of it.
The least horrible route--which means it's still horrible--to me would be to get the military out ASAP and fund whatever rebuilding etc. through NGOs and the UN. "But wouldn't that mean Iraq would decend into civil war?" Maybe maybe maybe that could be prevented if we left a decent interim gov't in place. But there are no guarantees. "But if Iraq does decend into civil war, we would have their blood on our hands!" Well, we *already* have their blood on our hands--at least this way the Iraqis will have their country back soon.
Slightly more horrible would be to have the occupation continue under an int'l force of which the US is only a member. Why is this more horrible? Because I don't think any occupation force can really hold back the violence that's been unleashed there--and because it will delay Iraqi sovereignity.
Still more horrible seems to be the Dem proposal, which is int'l forces under US or NATO control. And after that, the policy of the current administration....
I realize saying something like this to somebody in bar probably won't be comforting. Would it be convincing? I don't know. But it's what I'd say.
Curtiss
PS. Why am I talking about this when there's nothing I can do about it? Because talking about it beats not talking about it.