CNVN: What do we want?

[Brian Douglas]

I just read Edward Lempinen's article "See no evil" at Salon.com (http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2003/03/19/left/index.html), and it's got me in a very conflicted state. I find myself asking the question, what do I want more: to defeat Bush or Saddam? Despite my hatred and mistrust for Bush and his cronies, I have to answer Saddam.

Make no mistake, I believe the Bush administration failed to justify war with Iraq, and failed miserably on many levels. The White House's case is wrought with questionable motives (oil and corporate ties), flawed logic (the al Quaeda connection), faulty evidence (Powell's UN presentation), and just plain ignorance, all of which makes it impossible for me to justify war with Iraq for the simple reason that it insults my intelligence to agree with such a flawed argument.

When I think solely about Saddam and the wretched maniac that he truly is, I find that it's not hard to build a very justifiable and coherent case to support his removal. Saddam is an evil FUCK (crass language, I know, but as Lempinen points out, "The words 'ruthless dictator'... have been uttered so many times that they are like a dead key on a piano."), whose vileness can only be compared with Hitler (and even surpassed in some measures of their cruelties).

I really don't know. I'm a very pragmatic person for the most part, and I can't see any way to stop this war now that it's started. This article helped me to realize that despite all the bad shit that has brought us here, and that much much more may happen along the way, Saddam MUST be removed from power. I can't get past this.

Please read the article and let's discuss this some more, CNVN. I'm getting tired of reading about how f'd up Bush/Cheney, Inc. are, and ignoring the fact that there are leaders out there who are 10000x worse. I'm starting to feel like I've been the spoiled rich kid complaining about "what a jerk my dad is" to the poor kid who's father just sodomized him with a lit cigar.

Not to say that I'm cow-towing to the White House, but I'd like to find a way to use them for a change. If this war really is about oil, fine! Let's use their lusty greed for black gold to reach a righteous end and kill Saddam. THEN we organize to keep Bush & Co. from getting the oil they fought for!

“Only a first-rate intelligence can hold two opposing ideas and still be able to function.”
- F. Scott Fitzgerald