Illogic from the President

[andyfox]

Today, President Bush said that "ending this direct and growing threat" from Saddam Hussein would pave way for peace in the Middle East and inspire democracy throughout the Arab world.

How would the United States changing a government by force inspire democracy? How has it inspired democracy before? Hasn't it most usually, instead, inspired a distrust and even hatred of our country for interfering in others' affairs?

How does war pave the way for peace? Isn't this Orwellian logic?

Bush also said that "the safety of the American people depends on ending this direct and growing threat." What direct threat? Haven't all the threats been issued by our country? What direct threat did Saddam pose to us before we started massing troops around him and threatening him with war, with nuclear weaponry, with war crime trials?


"The United States has no intention of determining the precise form of Iraq's new government. That choice belongs to the Iraqi people," Bush told the American Enterprise Institute. "Yet we will ensure that one brutal dictator is not replaced by another."

If we have no intention of determining the form of the next government, how can we ensure who will be the leader, or what kind of leader he will be? I suppose the important word is "precise," insuring that Bush's statement is imprecise.

"A new regime in Iraq would serve as a dramatic and inspiring example of freedom to other nations of the region," Bush said. How can he know this if we have no intention of determining the nature of that regime?

Please, Mr. President, tell us that you have more than this. Explain to us how overthrowing a government and starting a war in Iraq will keep the Palestinians from engaging in terrorism and convince the Israelis to build no more settlements in the occupied territories. Explain to us how war in Iraq protects us from the madness of Osama Bin Laden, when Bin Laden himself considers the Iraqi regime illegitimate. Explain to us why we don't have Bin Laden "dead or alive" yet, or even Mullah Omar. Explain to us why those regimes which no one denies have more to due with exporting terrorism (Saudi Arabia, for example) pose no threat to us or their neighbors.

Please Mr. President.