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We just held a forum today at our school about the war on Iraq (actually I helped organize it:P). There were a lot of speakers from all backgrounds and it was quite interesting to hear what people had to say.
Even within the Arab community here, there is a large split about what should be done. On the one hand we had the president of the arabic student's society (I think that was it) who said every single iraqi he knew and every single person he knew was against the war and said it was about the US being imperialistic. He told us about how Arabs should sort out their own problems. A few other speakers wholeheartedly agreed with him.
Then we had others such as those with Kurdish and Shiite relatives, and the Afghani and the Kuwaiti speaker who all said that Saddam needs to be taken care of.
We also had a few bleeding heart conservatives and an Israeli speaker to back that up.
Meanwhile there were some serious anti-war people who even advertised a few anti-war demonstrations while doing their speech against American imperialism and American lies. As well we had the president of the Canadian Bolsheivek Alliance or whatever it was called who talked about Marxist ideals and how Americans sucked.
Finally we had our guest speakers who were academics. One talked about how any military action would be against interational law. Another said intervention with UN approval should happen and is necessary. Finall the last talked about the humanitarian issues and how the world must do something, even if not war, but stop Saddam. He said how his own friends who were in the anti-war camp were ignorant because they had no solution to the fact that Saddam has commited endless crimes against humanity and the anti-war people don't really acknolwedge this or at least don't give any real solutions.
The most interesting thing that was said was that the 60+ countries in the world that just ratified and made the International Criminal Court a reality haven't even bothered to actually use it, in inditing Saddam Hussein. Yes that includes France and Germany.
My personal take on it is quite simple. The war isn't about oil. It isn't about humanitarian reasons. It isn't about installing democracy, and it isn't about removing Saddam from power.
The war is simply this. Imagine September 11th... no not the one we just had, but September 11th, 2005. You wake up to hear that New York has just been destroyed by a terrorist nuclear bomb. 5 million people are dead, many more missing.
That's why there's going to be a war. Presented with the fact that America is quite vulnerable after 9/11, with the fact that Saddam is near completion of making his weapons, of Saddam's self stated intentions of destroying America, and Saddam's close ties with terrorist groups around the world... the Americans must do something. For President Bush, the one who's father started two wars during his administration, the choice is clear. Saddam must be wiped out. Remember first and foremost, Bush is accountable to the American people. If anything goes wrong under his watch he'll be the one that let NYC blow up in a nuclear fireball.
Are there any other choices but war? Perhaps. But will they succeed? Probably not.
I live only 1 1/2 hour from the American border. Anything that goes on down there will affect my own life quite a bit. As much as I care about pain and suffering around the world. As much as I don't want needless deaths, whether it be civilians or even soldiers who are just doing their job... something needs to be done to stop Saddam. And hell, if it also ends up improving the lives of tens of millions of Iraqis, all the better.
-Epi
Even within the Arab community here, there is a large split about what should be done. On the one hand we had the president of the arabic student's society (I think that was it) who said every single iraqi he knew and every single person he knew was against the war and said it was about the US being imperialistic. He told us about how Arabs should sort out their own problems. A few other speakers wholeheartedly agreed with him.
Then we had others such as those with Kurdish and Shiite relatives, and the Afghani and the Kuwaiti speaker who all said that Saddam needs to be taken care of.
We also had a few bleeding heart conservatives and an Israeli speaker to back that up.
Meanwhile there were some serious anti-war people who even advertised a few anti-war demonstrations while doing their speech against American imperialism and American lies. As well we had the president of the Canadian Bolsheivek Alliance or whatever it was called who talked about Marxist ideals and how Americans sucked.
Finally we had our guest speakers who were academics. One talked about how any military action would be against interational law. Another said intervention with UN approval should happen and is necessary. Finall the last talked about the humanitarian issues and how the world must do something, even if not war, but stop Saddam. He said how his own friends who were in the anti-war camp were ignorant because they had no solution to the fact that Saddam has commited endless crimes against humanity and the anti-war people don't really acknolwedge this or at least don't give any real solutions.
The most interesting thing that was said was that the 60+ countries in the world that just ratified and made the International Criminal Court a reality haven't even bothered to actually use it, in inditing Saddam Hussein. Yes that includes France and Germany.
My personal take on it is quite simple. The war isn't about oil. It isn't about humanitarian reasons. It isn't about installing democracy, and it isn't about removing Saddam from power.
The war is simply this. Imagine September 11th... no not the one we just had, but September 11th, 2005. You wake up to hear that New York has just been destroyed by a terrorist nuclear bomb. 5 million people are dead, many more missing.
That's why there's going to be a war. Presented with the fact that America is quite vulnerable after 9/11, with the fact that Saddam is near completion of making his weapons, of Saddam's self stated intentions of destroying America, and Saddam's close ties with terrorist groups around the world... the Americans must do something. For President Bush, the one who's father started two wars during his administration, the choice is clear. Saddam must be wiped out. Remember first and foremost, Bush is accountable to the American people. If anything goes wrong under his watch he'll be the one that let NYC blow up in a nuclear fireball.
Are there any other choices but war? Perhaps. But will they succeed? Probably not.
I live only 1 1/2 hour from the American border. Anything that goes on down there will affect my own life quite a bit. As much as I care about pain and suffering around the world. As much as I don't want needless deaths, whether it be civilians or even soldiers who are just doing their job... something needs to be done to stop Saddam. And hell, if it also ends up improving the lives of tens of millions of Iraqis, all the better.
-Epi
British politians coming out the closet. French Presidents having extra-marital children. Italian politians involved in the mafia. Really, getting a blowjob from your secretary seems quite mundane but a step in the right direction. 
but they're our allies.
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