Posted by Dinah on March 23, 2006, at 9:48:35
In reply to Iraqi Deaths, posted by Sobriquet Style on March 23, 2006, at 6:21:22
Would Iraqi deaths at the hands of sectarian violence be less if the previous leader was still in power? Obviously. He managed to keep the lid on it for many years. It really makes you think, doesn't it? Just like I thought after the fall of the communist government in Czech - oh drat, I give up on the spelling. The removal of a strong, (insert a few adjectives here) government leads to more violence in a country where age old hatreds have been kept in check with (insert methods of keeping hatreds in check here).
The current war against Iraq may have been based on incorrect assumptions, and had the correct information been known, would probably have never been undertaken.
But isn't the question *now* what to do to minimize the number of deaths? Most analysts I've seen, whether or not they were opposed to the war, don't believe a pullout will result in the least number of deaths - other than of course deaths among the soldiers. According to Asne Seirstad's book (apologies for misspellings), one of the greatest fears in Iraq was that a civil war would ensue from the removal of the existing regime.
Wouldn't that be incredibly irresponsible of us?
What was the strategy in Central Europe? How did the ethnic fighting there end?
And again, what about the Sudan. Is it really moral to stand by and do nothing in that situation? Goodness only knows I have absolutely no desire to get involved, but what's going on saddens me so greatly that it feels wrong to me to do nothing. Like watching domestic violence and not calling the police.
There is no "good" solution at this point. But perhaps we can look to history to help us find the least bad solution.
poster:Dinah
thread:621784
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060322/msgs/623619.html