From: Jeff Davis (jrd1415@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Jun 06 2003 - 05:55:49 MDT
--- Damien Broderick <damienb@unimelb.edu.au> wrote:
> But we do live in a real world, so I admit that to
sequester the oil reserves for me and my friends
and for technological civilization it might, after
all, be worth expending the lives of the willing and
those of the innocent victims.
I'm more than a little confident that Damien does not
personally hold this belief, but is rather making a
point about those who do. This, he seems to be
saying, is how they feel. Which suggests a few
questions. A war for defense from imminent peril is
one thing, but when it's about oil, how do you feel
then? If "you" feel okay about war for oil, can you
really feel all that put out when the other side,
whose oil it is, feels like making war back at you?
And I'm not talking here about charging an M-1 Abrams
with a pointy stick, but rather making war by a method
of their own choosing, say, blowing up school buses or
flying planes in skyscrapers.
This is why the decision to go war is so profoundly
serious. If you go to war easily, you have to expect
others will feel free to respond in similar fashion.
Then it will be your kids in the hospital and the
morgue. Then it will be too late. Non-psychotic
grown-ups know this.
Saddam is gone. That's a good thing. But if that is,
and was, a good enough reason, why not just propose it
to "the people" of the United States in just those
terms?
Best, Jeff Davis
"During times of universal deceit, telling the
truth becomes a revolutionary act."
George Orwell
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM).
http://calendar.yahoo.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Jun 06 2003 - 06:07:01 MDT