At the time the decision was being made I was hearing from friends who were very much
against going to war against Iraq. But I couldnt decide one way or the other. I
very much believe democracy is good for everyone. I dont believe that any society
can really "protect" women by denying them equal rights. When Powell got up there
and under oath said there were all kinds of WMD and showed all those pictures and
combined with a brutal dictator I too felt that this might be the right thing to do.
Powell said "he knew". I believed that "he knew". well, now it appears that finding
justification for going to war is a lot like pseudoscience. Get the conclusion in
place and then go looking for all the right facts to fit the conclusion.

But what I do "know" now is that we were lied to about the WMD from the start. There
was a "conclusion" from the day W took office and that conclusion was we are going to
war against Iraq so lets start looking for the facts that support that decision.
Yes, Iraqis lived under 3 brutal dictators ... Saddamn and his sons. But there is
always a trade off and maybe the Iraqis know something we dont, that only an iron
fist could keep the religious nuts in line. Look at what happened in the former
Yugoslavia when Tito was gone. The whole place went up in flames and there was
genocide. OTOH, in other countries when the people had a belly full (like Rumania)
the people revolted.

Maybe, just maybe the Iraqis dont want freedom enough to put their lives on the line.
Maybe they want order and electricity and water every day more than freedom. I dont
know. Freedom and democracy is something gotta burn in your soul and be willing to
fight and die for it. Maybe they dont know what it is, maybe they dont want it. Oh,
they may want it for themselves, but if they dont want to share it with all the
"other" religions, they dont want to share it with women then they dont really want
it like it is burning in their soul.

Sometimes, when it walks like a duck, talks like a duck and quacks, it is a duck.
Ingrid

~ jan JJsPond.us wrote:
I heard on the news the other day that the CIA has informed its people to
report on what they know, not what they THINK they know.

I know I don't want to believe that our government went to war just because
of OIL.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.