A Reply To "Is Anyone Really Ready For The Truth?"

I received the following response to the post "Is Anyone Really Ready For The Truth" from an internet friend who wishes to remain anonymous. I thought I'd share it because it illustrates the logic used by many who seek to justify the war in Iraq. It also brings up a point that really needs to be addressed.

" Hi Pam,

Denial is a feature found on both sides of the Iraq debate. The Nazi specifically blamed minority groups as causing their problems. The US under Bush has simply become a bigger participant in a much wider conflict over religion and control of world oil supplies.

In defense of the Bush administration, invading Iraq was not unreasonable given the threat Saddam posed by leveraging Oil to rebuild his military. It is irresponsible to allow a relatively ruthless dictator with a history of invasions and manipulation to have control over a vital resource.

In critique, the invasion was badly botched and succeeded in removing the stabilizing elements that prevented Iraq from spiraling into a horrifying religious war. Now the issue is not Oil at all - does the US want to be remembered for starting a war that will likely kill half of Iraqi's and may engulf the whole middle east? All of the scenarios are bad news now so stability is key if you want to allow a better one to form. Pull out too fast and utter chaos will ensue pulling Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia in whether they want to or not.

I think history will record Bush as a disconnected president that really did not understand what he was doing until it was too late. Command has been shifted to more pragmatic generals yet the future is only stabilized at a bad level instead of getting worse. This kind of transition will have to be repeated in the mortgage crisis and global warming which are more far reaching in their influence to American security than Iraq.

It is one thing to critisize the leadership. It is entirely different to see events like the mortgage collapse in advance. If you know people who were not surprised and planned accordingly, consider yourself lucky. With so few people really aware, how can we expect leadership that is better than ourselves as a group? "

And here is the problem that lies at the heart of American foreign policy -- the idea that one nation has the right to invade another because it does not approve of that nation's management of its natural resources?

Is this not the same type of logic that was used to justify the virtual genocide of the Native American nations. After all the European settlers needed that land and "those uncivilized savages " did not understand the concept of land ownership.

Isn't this the same logic that lead to the European colonization of much of Asia and African? Even though both the African and Asian continents were the homes of cultures that were thousands of years old, "those savages" weren't going to stand in the way of adding to the wealth of the thrones of Europe. What were they going to do with gold, diamonds, copper etc.?

Have we as the human race not learned anything?

Let's follow my friend's logic and pose the questions:

Would it be reasonable for Russia or China to invade the United States if they feel that a US President is leveraging the Alaskan or Gulf Coast oil and natural gas reserves to rebuild the military?

Is it responsible to let a President with a history of "launching invasions and manipulation to have control a vital resource".

Does the fact that the United States has allowed itself to become dependent on foreign oil give it the right to overthrow the governments of other sovereign nations?

If so who's next Iran, Venezuela, Sudan, Nigeria. If you agree with my friend's logic, are you enlisting to serve on the front line?

Following my friend's logic was it ok to allow the faulty levees to destroy the 9th ward of New Orleans. After all the oil companies wanted that land for warehouses.

Was it ok to allow genocides to take place in Rwanda and Sudan. After all, reducing the populations of these nations will mean that they have less need for their oil. After all do they know how to manage their own resources.

I guess what it really comes down to is what value our society places on human life - all human life. Not just the lives of our family and friends but the faces we may never see, the faces that don't look like ours, the faces half a world away.

If the majority of Americans value their SUVs more than the life of an Iraqi child then they should stand up, be honest and say so. Don't claim that it's about spreading democracy or Christianity.

The Jesus that I know would definitely not approve.

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"All conditions and all circumstances in our lives are a result
of a certain level of thinking. When you want to change the
conditions and the circumstances, we have to change the level of
thinking that is responsible for it." -- Albert Einstein