cce blog

And I take it you are in favor of Sadam using gas over 40 times on the Kurds killing over 5,000 in just one of his attacks. I am I sure you were supportive of Sadam taking over Kuwait. You were one of the ones that I am sure was in favor of helping out the Kuwait people when they were attacked. Did YOU go to there help? Did you help the people in Yugoslavia when they were practicing genocide? You talk so wonderfully about the terrible Americans. What have YOU and your country done to help ease others suffering in the world. I can't believe the hypocrisy I find in your writing. Get a life and join the real world.

I think you've got me wrong here -- I believe that humanitarian interventions are justified, and that genocide and mass murder like the kinds we've seen in Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Iraq, etc, should be stopped. I think there is a valid humanitarian case for war in Iraq, though I may disagree with the Bush team on their specific war policy.

My article focused on what I saw as inappropriate war profiteering by one Congressman from San Diego. What hypocrisy do you find in my writing?

Brian,

Just one thing- if you'd taken a look at Chris' website you'd see he's actually American. Did you just assume he was Chinese because he's writing from Hong Kong?

I was asked in a private email Chris asked why I felt he was being hypocritical. The letter did state that the article was focused on "inappropriate war profiteering" and that is true.

First, as someone pointed out, I will admit that I was guessing wrongly that the person writing was from China. This was a snap decision on my part, which was unwarranted. Further Chris said in a private email to me, " I believe that humanitarian interventions are justified, and that genocide and mass murder like the kinds we've seen in Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Iraq, etc, should be stopped. I think there is a valid humanitarian case for war in Iraq, though I may disagree with the Bush team on their specific war policy." I may have totally misjudged Chris. I have no doubt that I had jumped to a conclusion based on all the negative news I have been reading and a comment in one of the blogs about "hating American's" which I must have inappropriately tied to this article and Chris. For that I apologize. Incidentally, while I jumped to the conclusion Chris was not American, I will bet most readers will have no idea where I am writing this from, what my background is or where I am politically or socially. Let's see if you profile me correctly. I will tell you more about my background at the end.

On the war profiteering issues, I was not in favor of going to war without pushing for more inspections but I am 100% sure that the French and Russians, and maybe also the Germans, opposed us going in not because the heads of their country were so worried about "human rights" and peace. No, it was because of their own financial links and the "great economic deals" they had made with a bloody and corrupt regime. I will guess that history will show both the French and the Russians sold banned goods to Sadam for huge profits. A news article I just heard said that a full 1/3 of the French people want to see Sadam "defeat the coalition." They want a murder and his goons in office over a government by the people setup by the American's and British. Ouch. I wonder why? Makes one think a bit. I know they have proof that Syria and Yugoslavia have been trafficking in illegal ballistic missile technology and yet no one has done anything about that ... on TV the government officials just smile and shake their shoulders. Let's give this a year and see who was selling what to whom and making what sort of profits.

During this war, there have so far been between 500 and 600 civilians killed and about 50 of our soldiers. There are over 40,000 men, women and children killed every year on United States highways. We loose over 100 people a day killed on our highways. In the approximately two weeks this war has been actively fought, 1,400+ people have been killed on US highways and thousands more injured. How many thousands have starved to death in Africa? In Iraq we have about 300,000 troops throwing tons of high explosives at 500,000 + troops in Iraq and a lot of that stuff landing inside populated areas. We have had VERY FEW civilian causalities.

Yes, some American companies will make a profit. Those that sold all the weapons we have dropped on Iraq will also all have to be replaced and so they will also make a huge profit. Will this profit pay for the 75 billion it is costing me as a taxpayer. I doubt it. Do I think that it is bad for Americans to make a profit if the Iraqi people appreciate the fact that will have removed someone who it is expected may have killed 100,000 people in his own country. Do I think it is bad for Americans to make a profit if the Iraqi people appreciate the fact that we remove someone who claims that our "sanctions" have killed 500,000 Iraqi children and yet the French, Arabs and Russians are aghast at this. The claim they their are "humanitarian" and yet if they really were humanitarian, they wouldn’t have engaged in the lucrative trade of sanctions-busting make HUGE profits for them and their countries.

Is the big benefit in the area going to be our making a few extra dollars. NO... The big benefit will be having some other people in the Middle East who thank us and appreciate our having helped them get out from under a terrible despot. Is Syria and Iran afraid. They weren't afraid of Sadam, but they are afraid of a democratic, pro-Western country with petrol-dollars stuck right between them and right next door to pro-Western Kuwait.

Back to the challenge that started all this... where is the hypocrisy? If people are not willing to live under an Iraqi style government but think other people should have to remain under this murderous regime, they are hypocritical. If they joke and talk about Iraqi people driving on smooth highways and good bridges and they are not willing to live like the current poor Iraqi with a dirt floor, mud walled house, I claim that is hypercritical. If one person is living comfortably, has hot and cold running water, a flush toilet, and something to eat every day of the year.... don't express disgust that others might also go that route.

Now to be fair I asked you to see if you could guess who I was and what my background is. I am a teacher living in Japan. I have also spent four years living in Bahrain, and nine years in Panama. I started an NGO called "Forest Friends" in Panama to help save the rainforest. I am a Democrat, a union organizer, and in my youth started a "back to the land" cooperative community in Wisconsin called Wassaya which lasted for 20 years. I enlisted in the Infantry and fought as an Infantry officer in Vietnam. Did you guess who I was by my discussion?

I am not happy about people, civilian or military, being killed. I would be VERY opposed to going to war to make a profit, but Sadam is a very bad man doing very bad things. He needs to go and it should have been done 10 years ago. If you want to talk about a real crime, it was not supporting the uprising we encourage 10 years ago. Remember that one of our strongest allies in this is Kuwait. I wonder why? If people want to shed a tear, how about shading a tear for the thousands dying every day in Africa from starvation. What about the abortions that have killed millions in the US since it was legalized?

Bravo!!! Good for you. Brian

Brian,

Being naive and enthusiastic does not solve the world problem, besides I don't think American government is that naive.