tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22202011.post636710138664427905..comments2023-12-11T08:49:46.305+00:00Comments on Dizzy Thinks: Where the doublethink goes nextUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22202011.post-1143661267477397112007-08-21T17:27:00.000+01:002007-08-21T17:27:00.000+01:00Sort of half agree with you.The anti-war argument ...Sort of half agree with you.<BR/>The anti-war argument does wobble - or at least there are a number of differing anti-war arguments and some people cherry-pick to suit the moment.<BR/>Also it is ridiculous to blame Bush and Blair for all the problems. Even to extent it to a nebulous imperialistic intervention of the last x decades wouldn't explain Sunni/Shia aggravation.<BR/>But what is clear is that Bush/Blair have acted akin to a small boy with a twig and an wasps' nest. To extend the analogy, having poked it there's not a lot of point (but a degree of pain) in trying to fix it. Powell's famous 'if you break it, you own it' dictum is entirely inappropriate in this circumstance: we are part of the problem and not part of the solution. Further attempts to improve the situation will be fustrated by the general Iraqi perception that the clock is already running on the intervention and that 'collaborators' (eg the interpreters) will be abandoned.<BR/>Our continued presence - whatever one's position on the original invasion either at the time or in retrospect - will make it harder to fix and lead to more deaths whatever (and this is the hard bit) happens in the short term after our withdrawl/retreat.Buenaventura Durrutihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13905496758011641954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22202011.post-15430067125110565272007-08-21T16:44:00.000+01:002007-08-21T16:44:00.000+01:00Too true. We in the West are damned if we do and d...Too true. We in the West are damned if we do and damned if we don't. How could we have sat idly by and waited for the UN and the rest of the pacifists to wring their hands sufficiently to actually get anything done? It would have taken months. There are too many vested interests - witness China's refusal to sign anything remotely worthwhile when it comes to Sudan.<BR/><BR/>It required leadership from America and the UK to get rid of Saddam. Of course it was done in a bit of a cack-handed way, but the general principle behind it all is pretty sound. We need to be prepared to show some guts, stand up for freedom, and stick around in Iraq and Afghanistan for a few years yet.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22202011.post-6409377055847397332007-08-21T15:51:00.000+01:002007-08-21T15:51:00.000+01:00I quite agree with you Dizzy on this point.Althoug...I quite agree with you Dizzy on this point.<BR/>Although I believe we had a moral responsibility to put right that which we broke by invading Iraq, and to quit would be a further evasion of those responsibilities.<BR/>Unfortunately neither Blair, nor Brown have shown the backbone. Or willingness to put the resources needed into Iraq to get the job done.<BR/>So I do not believe any more British service personnel should be sacrificed upon the altar of this failed American venture just for political capital.Barnacle Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17257546424880537005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22202011.post-87350753434904862792007-08-21T09:41:00.000+01:002007-08-21T09:41:00.000+01:00Absolutely on the buttonAbsolutely on the buttonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com