Back on Irak (as it spelled on the bus in LA for the hispanic readership)

I read Chris Hitchens because he's a good writer and he makes me feel good about my position on the Iraq invasion. Many criticise (James Carville, for one) the internet for being a place where one goes to be supported and not enlightened. I wonder how those people make such distinctions between what one reads on the internet and say an op-ed in the New York times. But regardless, in this case, they may be right, maybe I only read Chris Hitchens to be supported. I think I read him because the points he makes are accurate, as opposed to reading someone who is inaccurate...but anyhow.

Here is an article not about what Bush/America SHOULD have done, but rather, what the international community SHOULD have done. Fancy that, normally, it's all about Monday morning quarterbacking on US/Bush/etc, so it's nice to read an alterna-version of the self same rhetorizing (is that a word?).

And if such a premise seems fruitless or stupid - how is it any more stupid than playing the other what-if games? Because what I like about this POV is that it assumes we all are responsible for making this a freer, better world - not that the US gets to make policy decisions and everyone else stands around and yell - YEAH or NAY, based upon their cultural specificity (ie bullshit) or own self interest.

The good stuff:

So, now I come at last to my ideal war. Let us start with President Bush's speech to the United Nations on Sept. 12, 2002, which I recommend that you read. Contrary to innumerable sneers, he did not speak only about WMD and terrorism, important though those considerations were. He presented an argument for regime change and democracy in Iraq and said, in effect, that the international community had tolerated Saddam's deadly system for far too long. Who could disagree with that? Here's what should have happened. The other member states of the United Nations should have said: Mr. President, in principle you are correct. The list of flouted U.N. resolutions is disgracefully long. Law has been broken, genocide has been committed, other member-states have been invaded, and our own weapons inspectors insulted and coerced and cheated. Let us all collectively decide how to move long-suffering Iraq into the post-Saddam era. We shall need to consider how much to set aside to rebuild the Iraqi economy, how to sponsor free elections, how to recuperate the devastated areas of the marshes and Kurdistan, how to try the war criminals, and how many multinational forces to ready for this task. In the meantime—this is of special importance—all governments will make it unmistakably plain to Saddam Hussein that he can count on nobody to save him. All Iraqi diplomats outside the country, and all officers and officials within it, will receive the single message that it is time for them to switch sides or face the consequences. Then, when we are ready, we shall issue a unanimous ultimatum backed by the threat of overwhelming force. We call on all democratic forces in all countries to prepare to lend a hand to the Iraqi people and assist them in recovering from more than three decades of fascism and war.

Not a huge amount to ask, when you think about it. But what did the president get instead? The threat of unilateral veto from Paris, Moscow, and Beijing. Private assurances to Saddam Hussein from members of the U.N. Security Council.

Now why does the US take all the heat? I'll tell you why - it's always been politically safer to do nothing and "feign ignorance" than actually face-up to difficult questions of dealing with rogue regimes and islamic terrorism - it's much easier to blame the US and GW Bush for these issues, thereby absolving oneself of any responsibility or duty, and protesting rather than trying to make anything better.

His last quote:

Well, if everyone else is allowed to rewind the tape and replay it, so can I. We could have been living in a different world, and so could the people of Iraq, and I shall go on keeping score about this until the last phony pacifist has been strangled with the entrails of the last suicide-murderer.

Ouch.