Re: Benjamin Netanyahu on Bush's Speech

[Marvin Long, Jr.]

On Mon, 24 Sep 2001, The Fool wrote:

> You can do nothing and starve.  You can rise up and, perhaps, free
> yourself.  It's like a choice between multiple evils.  None of the
> options are good.

While I'm happy to agree that Saddam is the primary source of all Iraqi
suffering, I think you state this binary choice in a way that vastly
overestimates the ease with which the people in Iraq can rise up and
"perhaps" free themselves. Rising up requires weapons, organization,
unity of purpose, and something resembling a clear goal, a vision of the
future.  States like Saddam's specialize in depriving people of all these
things.  In real-world terms, I suspect the choice for each individual
Iraqi is to shut up and scrounge for a living, or whisper of dissent and be
shot because the second or third or fourth or fifth person to hear
the whisper will choose to inform and perhaps be fed.



Marvin Long
Austin, Texas

"If you will not grant me victory, then grant me vengeance!"
  Conan the Barbarian

"Blessed are the peacemakers."
  Jesus Christ