I think the jury is out on whether the world is safer because of OIF, but it is unarguably true that Saddam was evil, it is a very good thing that we have him, and ditto for when we get Osama.
Problem being not only the issues that I laid out in my Last post, but that we have totally lost any moral superiority or claim to legitimacy becuase we LIED about the reason we went to war.
The actual war I was always of two minds on it, it was both a good and bad goal, but I am unequivocally of the opinion that the WAY in which we did it was extremely damaging to our credibility, the war on terror, and the post-cold-war order.
Becuase we LIED to INVADE another country, we violated most any precepts about international law and soveriegnty that we ourselves have protected for umpteen years, and hence everyone in the world can't help but think: OK, now the US is not someone we can rely upon to do anything but what is in their interest. And since they are so powerful, we can't stop them unless we oppose them. Eventually, a counter-balancing coalition may arise becuase of this. Poof, right back to Great Power politics, and a much more dangerous world...
Quote:
Originally posted by Combat Wombat:
One difference is the US and the coalition did not go to Iraq to conquer it, plunder or rape it. We went to liberate it from an terrible dictator. I will not deny that part of why we went to Iraq was because of the oil, but this is a viable reason. We cannot give an unstable middle east the opertunity to hold the world hostage by threating to cut the oil supply. This is another reason we should begin to drill in Alaska and get working on those hydrogen cars. You cannot say the world is not a better place because of what has been done in Iraq.
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