On Thu, 6 Feb 2003, John D. Giorgis wrote: > > Preemptive conquest and > >nation-building looks a lot like colonialism to a lot of people, > >especially the conquered. > > What evidence do you have of this? Does your statement here match what > we know about the reactions of the people of Afghanistan or Serbia, to name > the two most recent regimes changed by the US?
I'm thinking more of all those post-colonial regions of the earth who were once occupied by people believing in their own god-given destiny and who would have no reason to be thrilled by Bush's appropriation of this hoary concept. Bear in mind, please, that I have granted that good case can be made for war in Iraq (although the case was a lot stronger 11-odd years ago); a good case can also be made for delay. I wish I could confidently side with one view, but I can't. It just seems to me that invoking America's manifest destiny is a lousy way to make the former case to any but the religious chauvanist core of the president's party. > Out of curiosity, if you see a poor man being beaten on the street by a > hoodlum to steal his wallet, what would you do? Let's say that you have > a baseball bat, and the hoodlum does not have a weapon. Would you feel > any moral obligation to assist the poor man whom you don't know? Of coure. But I wouldn't run through the neighborhood waving the bat about crying, "You're next! And you're next! And you're next! God GAVE me this bat to whoop all your sorry hoodlum behinds!" Marvin Long Austin, Texas Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Poindexter & Ashcroft, LLP (Formerly the USA) http://www.breakyourchains.org/john_poindexter.htm _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
