Friday, December 11, 2009

'Whatever Mistakes We Have Made'

By Nicolas J S Davies
December 11, 2009

The history of war has long included that of politicians who justify war in the name of peace.

Read on.
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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

iSince it has been states that Afghanistan is the poorest nation in the world, would someone please explain to me how enlightened self-interest works. I am an American citizen, currently extensively traveling outside of the US. I hope not to someday soon open my Yahoo news page and read that the citizens of America have taken to the streets, chanting the phrase, "Brng back Bush."

Sincerely,

Madaline E. States

Fri Dec 11, 01:29:00 PM 2009
Unknown said...

If Mr. Davies' argument is that there are NEVER any just wars, that's where I must disagree. Truly defensive wars are justified. Of course there can be arguments over what constitutes a defensive and just war, but self defense is a principle that any rational being must accept. To deny that is to invite national and cultural suicide. And call me a nationalist booster or ethnocentric sucker for our propaganda, but I'll take my chances with our American system over the deeply corrupt and violent oligarchs in Russia or the rump of the Communist party in China. And the only reason the liberal democracies in Europe that Mr. Davies holds up as the exemplar on issues of war exist is because the United States has had the will and the power to defend them, first from Hitler and Mussolini and then from Communism. The fact that we can have this debate is, I think, proof of my preference.

Of course, this does not justify or excuse most of the conduct about which Mr. Davies rightly complains. The devil is always in the details, and the devil is especially potent in the fog of war. Which is why I oppose all wars except legitimate wars of self defense.

Fri Dec 11, 01:55:00 PM 2009
Anonymous said...

****************** The hope of audacity.......???????????.............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The hope of audacity is not always a good thing.... Like the homeless man begging two dollars, spending one on wine and the other on a scratch ticket, hey if you don't play you can't win..!!
Surely the best way to not win is to lose. If you can't get the whole amount of your rent together, should you call the landlord and friends to try to find more money, perhaps work, or should you take the money and buy scratch tickets..?? You could win, right...?? What does the record tell us about gambling our paychecks to buy a condo..?? It is sending hope after disappointment.. It is wishful think elevated to a vice...... It is hope against reality when we endeavor to chase deluded dreams of exceptionalism with the resources we require for sustenance.. We need to dream our dreams, but we need to be real about consequences.. Is Obama lying to us..?? Yes, but it's worse than that, he has drunk the neocon cool aids and he has begun lying to himself too... "We are doin G-d's werk, how can we fail..??" Too much success is narcotic in nature in that it induces euphoria.. and Obama has climber to dizzying heights...... He's a little light headed, you can see it in his beatific smile...."I've come SO far......the rest will be easy"..... The 33,OOO man escalation was bad enough, though probably the only realistic political choice he could make to "support the troops"..... but the worrying revisionist history he extolled accepting the prize, along with his deluded claims of exceptionalism makes my wonder just what he is smoking these days....as he assumes the bush "what me worry" attitude.....
What Obama needs to do is TOUR BURNT, BATTERED and BROKEN DETROIT before he commits more men and women and America's dwindling resources to the neocon dream of containing Islam.....
The spell will wear off and the high will diminish.. What will we find as the jingoism slips to quagmire and the bills come due..... He could have been a contender.........

Sat Dec 12, 12:25:00 PM 2009
John L.Opperman said...

Commentor "brian" should go back a few more steps beyond his "Truely defensive wars are justified".
With 2 cents worth of hindsight, EVERY war could have been avoided. With hundreds of years experience on the books as well as recent history remaining in our individual personal-and-collective memories, there is no excuse whatsoever of today's non-stop, perpetual war against other humans beings, to say nothing of the constant various wars against our own citizens. Every war is only to profit the greedy few at the expense of the majority, with lies and betrayal of the humanity these leaders claim to serve.
~John L.

Sat Dec 12, 04:48:00 PM 2009
PaulM45 said...

Sure. Let's just sit back and await the next 9/11. I prefer knowing that our brave military is showing the enlightened what partriotism means.

Wed Dec 16, 02:19:00 PM 2009

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