Reply #11: Humanitarian Intervention

[Martin Eden]

Let me get this straight -- the Bushies and neocons sacrificed all this American blood and treasure (not their personal blood and treasure, of course); defied the laws and protests of the civilized world, and deeply divided our own nation -- for a humanitarian intervention? They had many motives -- oil, petro dollars, war profiteering, delusions of Pax Americana, and domestic politics, but doing all of this for the sake of the poor suffering Iraqi people -- the same ones they killed by the thousands in order to save?

I don't think so. They won't invest a fraction of that in the welfare of the American people, so the notion that this is one huge foreign aid program simply doesn't wash.

OK then, let's talk about it in terms of self-interest -- not the interests of the Bushies & neocons -- the true interests of the American people.

In terms of national security, this war is a fiasco. We diverted vital resources from the pursuit of al Qaeda in Afghanistan (remember 9/11?), and now they're resurgent along with the Taliban. We're mired in two very costly and bloody nation-building operations, with no guarantee that any government we install will long survive our departure (if we ever depart). Our treasury is being drained, our military is stretched precariously thin, our actions are recruiting more terrorists than we're killing, and most of the world now regards us as a rogue nation.

Will the Iraqi people be better off in the long run? That's hard to say (except for the thousands we killed so far in this war). Right now Iraqis are less safe than during Hussein's rule, with a higher unemployment rate and a devastated infrastructure. Civil war may be looming, and another tyrant could eventually emerge. It would be a mistake to put too much faith into the export of Bush democracy -- it's not a shining example here at home.

Who knows -- the Iraqis may have grown tired of sanctions and Saddam and deposed his atrocious regime. If David Kay is to be believed, Hussein was definitely losing his grip. The fact is we just don't know what the future would be in ten years if we hadn't invaded -- nor do we know what's going to happen now.

Call me selfish, but I just don't think the dubious results in Iraq are worth hundreds of $billions and the lives of 500+ young Americans. The Iraqis are so grateful, they're laying wreaths in the roads (or is that bombs?).

To be sure, something had to be done about Iraq. An estimated 500,000 Iraqi children have died as a result of the US/UN-imposed sanctions. But the only viable solution had to be one that was reached and approved by the world community. What the Bush administration did is not widely regarded as a humanitarian intervention, nor is it one.