Re: State of Iraq
"I am totally amazed at the number of people who don't recoil at the idea of the maintenance of the former totalitarian tyranny. Don't you guys realize that there is always a price to be paid for overthrowing tyranny? Freedom isn't free. Iraq is in one of its toughest periods now but even so it is better than 6 months ago and will get slowly better. THAT'S certainly better than another 30 years of tyranny. Sheesh. "
According to the Aon report, it's more dangerous than it was a year ago.
The question is at what point the price no longer becomes worth it. IMO given that Saddam was contained and weak prior to the war, and the war has seen indicators such as death rates, unemployment and malnutirition spiral upwards in its aftermanth, not even counting its direct consequences in terms of death and destruction, of the war and the fallout for other nations, that point was passed quite some time ago. Tere's also the question of the quality of the freedom that has been paid for, one so far marred by curfews, the large-scale displacement of civilians, the police state-style behaviour mentioned above, disappearances and torture and so on. I suspect however that there is no point at which the war becomes not worth it for many of its supporters. It reminds me of an argument we had here about Russia, when someone said that Russia was better off economically than prior to the collapse of Communism. I pointed out that, more than a decade later, it actually wasn't better off on any economic indicator, which earned me a barrage of accusations of short-sightendness, simply because I pointed out an indisputable fact, because one day we're told it will be better off. Perhaps. The fact is that Iraq is still in a mess caused directly by the architects of the war and the people they charged with the running of the country in its aftermath, at a cost of tens of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars that could have been used to save many lives elsewhere. One can only hope that the new government will do a better job if it ever gets off the ground properly and can act without US interference.
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