Re: Thomas Frank op-ed piece

[ravi <gadfly@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Devine, James wrote:
> ravi writes: >what then of US responsibility to clean up the mess we
> created?<
>
> shouldn't it be "what then of the US power elite's responsibility to
> clean up the mess they created?"

for an iraqi is there a difference? or even for us? 30-50% of the taxes
i pay go towards funding american adventures in other countries and the
further excesses of client states like israel. am i not complicit in the
suffering of iraqis and palestinians and east timorese?


> Do you think that US troops are the best tool for cleaning the mess
> they were hired to create?


i don't know. that's why i am trying to follow this debate. but often
all i hear is dismissal without justification of the opposing position.
perhaps the reasons are obvious?


> It seems that they are serving the US
> corporations, so if you're calling for "US corporations out of Iraq,"
> you're also calling for their servants to leave.


i dont know about the last part. perhaps US troops as part of a
multinational force could help ensure peace. that might be a naive hope.
the corporations (hallibortun, bechtel, etc) are by their very nature a
corrupting and degenerate influence.


> BTW, did you see that the Sydney Morning Herald reported that "Iyad
> Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, pulled a pistol and executed
> as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station, just
> days before Washington handed control of the country to his interim
> government...


indeed i read about this, and it only adds to my doubt. i am not very
knowledgeable about iraq but is it not possible that the thugs who will
rush in to fill the void left by a suddenly departed US army, would be
worse? i remember reading pieces about east timor, rwanda, and
elsewhere, of the horrors that ensued when any provisional authority
pulled out (in those cases these authorities were a bit more legitimate,
such as the UN).

isnt it important not to forget that their thugs are as bad as ours?
only, we can try to control our thugs but they cannot control theirs or
ours.

       --ravi