Prior responsibility
I find it kind of ironic; the British public, and the British Parliament as well, are adamently opposed to war with Iraq. But, just like France, these people seem to have forgotten that they are in no position to condemn the US’ foreign policy. (I’m sure that, by now, you have found out that our troops played a major role in liberating the French people, and that the French have forgotten this favor. That’s why we now eat French freedom fries and French victory toast, if you haven’t already figured that out. But the topic of France is for another day.)
The media has only recently touched on the fact that Britain was the cause of all these troubles in the Middle East. You see, this Palestinian problem; the State of Israel was created by British mandate. Britain left the United States to be the only firm supporter of Israeli policy. And Iraq? The British carved up the collapsed Ottoman Empire after World War I. Iraq was one of the nations created. What’s more, they forcefully corralled the Kurds into these boundaries, giving this ethnic group no autonomous state of their own. And now, only Tony Blair and Jack Straw have the courage to take care of what the United Kindom started? Bush is lucky that Blair hasn’t already been kicked out with a vote of “no confidence.”
It’s not that I’m quite for war, or against it. It’s just that, governments and their peoples need to recognize the things that they have done in the past, and they need to take responsibility for them. For example, I don’t think that Bush should’ve jumped on the issue of Iraq quite so quickly. We should’ve helped Afghanistan more thoroughly. And we should’ve given more thought to North Korea, which not only has the capability to strike the United States with nuclear weapons, but has also been using this capability to taunt the Bush administration, to no avail. Bush has promised diplomatic negotiations with North Korea, but nothing has come of it. Contrast this with Iraq, who can only strike at Israel, which is a problem, but is not as much of a problem, in my (not the most informed) opinion.
Of course, it’s too late for me to complain. War’s looming. And I will support our troops, even if I don’t completely agree with the strategy.
3/19/2003 @ 12:00 AM
John Fogg
I think that the British and French would argue "That was then, this is now."
Which, in the French case, they may have a point
We did liberate France, which makes them a nation that is theoretically on equal standing with us
That's the difference between liberation and subjugation, which gives them a right to resist...
...although that doesn't mean they're right
Plus, I'm guessing that Bush is blowing off N. Korea because he wants to concentrate on Iraq
I actually think that NK is playing games at the request of Iraq
It would make a lot of sense for those two to be allied.
Wait... maybe there's something to that, what if they have a joint nuclear program, and the need each other?
ok, this is getting a little too [sic] conspiracy-theory to be plausible...
but it would still make sense for NK to play games, because it's going to make Bush lose face with some people no matter what he does
Either spread his resources dealing with both
Thus hurting the economy
Or ignore NK, which will (and did) make him lose face for not addressing the situation
But I'm not a political analyst so I'll be quiet