It’s the peace, stupid

It’s the peace, stupid
: If we don’t win the peace in Iraq, we will lose the war.

  • finnesota

    This will only add to the rumor that Bush wants out of Iraq by March.

  • lorelei


  • linden

    Oh god. Please tell me that’s not true.

  • michael ledeen

    And if we don’t help the IRanian people bring down the mullahs, we’ll never have peace in Iraq. Or Afghanistan either.

  • Nina

    Ledeen, because Iran is going to detonate nukes in a week right? Because Iran controls the middle east right? If we don’t help the poor and the suffering around the world from US hegemony, you’ll never have peace anywhere, sorry to break it to you.

  • button

    This is to alert you that a summary of Noah Feldman’s Report supposedly has already been published in the leading Iraqi newspaper, according to Prof Juan Cole on his blog.
    I blogged it yesterday:
    I wouldn’t have mentioned it, but Ledeen just showed up here. (Mah pitoom!) Ledeen, the report is rather negative, I understand.

  • Dann

    Explain this to me. I keep hearing and reading it, but I’ve yet to find anyone that can offer a cogent defense of that position.
    IMO, American involvement has generally (meaning not always, but usually) served to improve the human condition of the nation in question.

  • APA

    If America would invest the money they invest to invade and occupy other countries in their education system or their health care they would be better off and the world would be better off too.
    Vietnam, Panama tons of other invasions. What for ? Most of the world are feed up with this politics, they will never win Iraq cause the people there hate the arrogant culture America is pushing in everybodies face. Without a clue about culture and history with a cowboy as president. All the things Bush did accuse Saddam, Mr. Bush represents, invading other countries, having WMD, look at the US media, nobody did dare to critizise Mr. Bush.
    I remember hearing an interview with a G.I. from a place away from everything.
    He said, look at this town we liberated just now, they don’t have any culture here. Even the place I’m from we have a Dairy Queen on one side of the town and a McDonalds on the other side of it. We will bring culture to this people.
    Yes sure…. Bringing plastic culture and disfunct family values to a country with thousand years of culture *LOL
    PS: Most of the terrorists America is hunting were trained and paid by the US government. The Taliban in Afghanistan, Mr. Noriega and many more……

  • linden

    Actually, the US spends the most money of any country in the world on education. What’s the problem? The system and the morons who run it. Not to mention the kids and the parents because let’s face it: child success is largely dependent on good parenting.

  • Dann

    America does not have a socialized health care system and the rest of the world benefits from our innovation in the medical world. Why would we want to adopt a socialized health care system that (as demonstrated in England, Canada, Finland, and other nations) inevitably results in rationed care, shortages and stagnant research.
    Much can be said about our efforts in Viet Nam. The most effective defense is to point to the hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese citizens (teachers, doctors, anyone with an education) that were butchered after we left them to the communists in the north. I would also hasten to point out the hundreds of thousands that risked everything to escape communism in leaky boats.
    The millions that were butchered in Cambodia also died after America abandoned much of the far east to the socialists/communists. I would also point out the millions that are suffering under communism in North Korea. Cannibalism is unfortunately well known in that nation impoverished by Karl Marx’s demented philosophy.
    Far too many thugs in the world have had the benefit of American support at one time or the other. Far too many forget that such support came at a time when we were fighting a Cold War against an expansionist and communist Soviet Union. Because we helped create these problems, we have a unique obligation to help correct them when and where we are able.
    Collectivism kills. It always results in a degradation of the human condition. Opposing (most recently in the case of the socialist Iraqi Ba’ath Party) is a just and proper use of our time, money, and resources.

  • JorgXMcKie

    Dann, I think you misunderstand. Since we admit we’re not perfect, we’re expected (by those who oppose our imperfectness) to be perfect in action and deed or else we fail. Those who profess to be perfect (Stalinists, Polpotists, Maoists, Fidelistas, the French) are allowed to be as imperfect and vicious as they please, because *They claim their actions will lead to perfection.*
    All our actions and motives are seen as merely spreading our imperfectness. You know, not everyone has equal amounts of stuff in the US, it’s imperfect despite the fact that the *poor* in the US are way better off than 90% of the rest of the world. And 40M have no health insurance, so we’re imperfect even though the wealthy (can I say that of economic egalitarian countries?) of countries with socialized medicine routinely come here for treatment. Thus, when we don’t immediately make things perfect in Panama or Iraq or wherever, we’re obviously failing, no matter how good the situation looks compared to ante. Got it?
    It’s pretty much useless to discuss this with the whingers, because they are apparently impervious to data or factual argument, having a direct link to higher knowledge. I.e. lefty collectivism is religious in nature.

  • Dann

    By the same token, as a small-‘l’ libertarian, I feel obligated to rebut such obviously faulty reasoning. Equally, as a non-Christian that would really like to be one some day, I feel obligated to rebut those who attempt to drag Jesus into their political corner.
    To do anything less is to yield the field of battle to those who would do the world great harm.