Quote:
Originally posted by Sidd Finch
I agree with your second point, from the perspective of the Iraqi people. From the perspective of American security, I disagree -- a regime that is friendly to Iran, or to al Qaeda, would be much worse for the US.
As to your first point, though, the question in my mind is not whether it is worth the "risk" of a worse regime coming in. The question is whether it was worth the cost.
Note -- I actually have to work today so don't expect any lengthy responses, and just assume that I disagree with everything you say.
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From my perspective, what is good for the Iraqi people is good for the US in the long run. It may be expensive now, but if over time what we did leads to a prosperous Iraq it was worth every penny.
Saddam was running a kleptocracy, and things were never going to improve for the Iraqi people. As long as he was in power, sanctions or no sanctions, Iraq was going to get poorer and less educted. This in turn was making it more and more difficult for a future stable regime to ever take power and then hold power. Therefore, a stable democracy was never going to happen on its own, and the chance of creating a stable propsperous democracy in Iraq was diminishing every day Saddam was in power. Taking the chance of creating a prosperous Iraq was not only the moral thing to do (because it was good for the Iraqi people), but in the long term interests of the United States.
Most of the countrys in the world are becoming more democratic and have government that are adopting policies that are improving the standard of living in those countries. There are exceptions, but that is the overall trend which is great. But as long as there are countries in the world that are not democratic and are not prospering (or are declining in prosperity), that is bad for US interests. Whether by hook or by crook, we need to do whatever we can (and at whatever cost) to turn every country on the globe into a growing, prosperous democracy.
Once we achive that, national security will cease to be an issue.
