[ExI] The Death Toll Imbalance in the Mideast War

[Stathis Papaioannou]

2009/6/11 John Grigg <possiblepaths2050 at gmail.com>:

> In some ways it sounds like life was very good in Iraq, but at what cost?
> The people there did not have proper representation, instead they had a
> murderous regime ("gotta just stay out of the government's way and not get
> arrested/raped/murdered!") that kept the trains running on time.  Sadly, to
> bring down a tyranny by war, there will be many lives lost and things will
> not turn around overnight.

But what if people wanted regime change, but not at the cost of being
invaded? What if Saddam had held an election just before the US
invasion and, as sometimes happens in times of national emergency, had
received endorsement even from people who normally hated him?

> As an Australian, you live in a comfortable, but relatively minor first
> world power.  You do not bear the huge burden of having to dominate the
> world (I mean be the world's policeman!) for both our and *your* own good.

Australia is almost as guilty since we generally go along with
whatever the US decides. But who appointed the US world policeman? If
anyone can legitimately claim that title (and perhaps no-one should)
it would be an international organisations such as the UN or World
Court, but the US generally treats these bodies with contempt whenever
they don't agree with it.

> Be grateful.  As empire's go, The United States is the best one the world
> has ever seen.  And I mean that in terms of our constitution, our
> principles, the good we have done in the world, and a capacity/potential to
> at least at times live up to our high ideals.  Russia and China don't even
> come close...

There is a lot of good will towards the US from other countries. Even
nominal enemies often consume US popular culture, aspire to work or
study in the US, benefit from US scientific research, sell to US
markets, and so on. Given all this, you have to ask yourself why there
is so much criticism of American foreign policy. It's very arrogant to
simply dismiss the world's concerns as misguided.


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou