On Fri, 7 Feb 2003, Gautam Mukunda wrote: > As far as I can tell you're so caught up in the rush > of condemning what they did that you're kind of > missing what was really going on. No one's defending > the Empire as an altruistic endeavor. The extent to > which it _was_ conducted in a not-so-bad fashion, > though, is quite remarkable. Standing on a high horse > and condemning other people is really easy and it > feels really good. It's not terribly productive > though. Tell me, if we do end up establishing a > stable democracy in Iraq (a 50/50 chance at best, > given the total # of Arab democracies in the world - > I'll give you a hint, Iraq would take it from a round > to a linear number) - would you at least feel a little > embarassed?
I would feel profoundly relieved; and if there's some embarrassment in that I won't mind. But I'm also trying to think beyond just Iraq. It seems to me that there are lots of post-colonial regimes in the world that don't live up to our moral standards and yet pose little threat, but whose cooperation and goodwill would be really, really useful for a global war against terrorist networks. I can't see how Bush's rhetoric about a God-given American destiny could serve any positive purpose in winning over portions of the world that will inevitably be skeptical about US motives and methods. And I don't see how those nations who used to be colonial powers can do anything but laugh at such talk. I understand that rebuilding Japan and Germany were not colonial enterprises; nor was intervening in Kosovo & Serbia. Iraq may not be either, depending on how it is handled. So why indulge in language that hearkens back to the 19th century to describe America's role in the world? A question about India - to what degree was the success of colonialism in India a consequence of Britain's sagacity, and to what extent was it due to the resources Indian culture had to bring to bear on the problem of being colonized in the first place? Not all colonizers are equally bad, I agree; but not all colonizees will present colonizers with the same issues, either. I'm genuinely curious here: my knowledge of Indian history is woefully deficient. 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
