> On 6/26/06, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>> On Jun 26, 2006, at 2:01 AM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>>
>> > Why do we pretend to care about what has, is, or will happen to
>> > Iraqis, Iranians, North Koreans, Cubans, and others? If we really
>> > did, we wouldn't live like this.
>>
>> How should we live then?
>
> First of all, begin with admitting to the basic truth of our lives:
> the Iraq War is a disaster for Iraqis, but it's not yet (and may never
> become) a disaster for us (if it were already a disaster for us, we
> would be acting like we were being hit by a disaster).
Who knows what the long-term consequences will be? In any case, what would you have us do? Don hair shirts and wail in the streets?
>
> Were the changes in circumstances inevitable in your opinion? If so,
> you can say that the Iraq War "was going to be a disaster from before
> it started." If they weren't, you can't, in truth.
I can't tell what's inevitable in advance - maybe you can. I had a strong suspicion that the invasion would result in massive chaos and death; the question all along has been how to minimize the damage once the furies were unleashed.
You know, like Keynes said, "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"
>> >> What am I going to do about it? Same thing that you are, no?
>> >
>> > You mean nothing?
>>
>> I'll follow your lead then.
>
> I said, more than a month ago, that Iraq was a goner, that there's
> nothing we could do about it in the near future, and that we should
> focus on Iran and Palestine instead, as a near- to medium-term project
> (for the next ten years or so) for education.
They're not unrelated, you know.
Doug