On Thursday 21 February 2002 23:27, you wrote: > The US will confront the axis of evil, and in particular invade Iraq for > one particular reason - the world will be safer, freer, and overall better > off without Saddam Hussein - from Americans to Israelis to the Iraqis > themselves.
JG. I agree with you that it is time to invade Iraq. I think the reason you give is so idealistic as to be PR, but you are a True Believer and as a skeptical cynic I both pity and envy you that. That said my real point is should we deal with the other two states the same way? <please reply in the two part format indicated.> North Korea presents a real problem since China may feel very threatened by an invasion and South Korea might understandably not think the risk worth the gain, particularly since North Korea or China might well use weapons of mass destruction on it ... or Japan. <end Korea problem> More important, is Iran in the same league as Iraq and Korea. Afterall, Iran really is a country with a revolutionary mandate. Furthermore, the government is semi-representative and enjoys considerable internal legitimacy. While other Western countries might disagree with the US prescription for Iraq, they don't seem to dispute the US diagnosis nor are they going to champion the cause of Korea. For that matter, experts on Arabs or East Asia aren't going to dispute the assessment of Iraq and Korea, though they might say engaging in inflamatory rhetoric is stupid. Iran is a different case. Its scholars give Iraq mixed grades and say there are definitely changes internal changes in the revolution and the government. They seldom label the regime "evil" for its *internal* policies. Likewise most allied states seem reluctant to include it in the same category as Iraq and Korea, even if its foreign policy includes support for kindred revolutions and covert first-party and third-party agency that fractionally produces terrorism in Israel and other Western countries. So: Should the US treat Iran like Iraq or Korea anyway? In the case of Iran do we care about internal matters or just about external, anti-Israeli and anti-US policy and covert action? Do we care about the different assesment of our scholars and allied diplomats? Why? <end Iran problem>
