Gautam, Thanks for the thoughtful and well-reasoned post. If only people would put as much thought into their replies as you do into your posts :-)
My position on the war is that, if I thought I could be effective, I would oppose the war IF I thought America and allies would do a poor job of post-war nation-building in Iraq. Now, I'm fairly certain that war protests are ineffective. For non-US citizens, when it comes down to it, I think their opinion doesn't really hold much weight with the Bush administration. As for the "peace at any cost" US citizens, there aren't enough to make a difference (about 10% according to an article I read). So, my position (only recently arrived at) is to not oppose the war but instead to support post-war nation-building. In fact, if the war protesters were realistic, I think they would realize that their best chance to be effective could be to drop their protests and expend their efforts lobbying in favor of spending the effort and time and money required after the war to build Iraq into a liberal democracy and strong market economy. War protests are unlikely to prevent war. Nation-building is a more likely way to prevent future wars. Consider how likely we are to fight a war with Japan or Germany? I've just started to think and read about post-war nation building in Iraq. If you have any thoughts on political groups or other organizations that are effective in lobbying for and planning such a path, please let me know. I'm looking for allies! -- "Erik Reuter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.erikreuter.net/ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
