{"id":4170,"date":"2003-01-24T10:09:14","date_gmt":"2003-01-24T15:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=4170"},"modified":"2003-01-24T10:09:14","modified_gmt":"2003-01-24T15:09:14","slug":"why_we_shouldnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/01\/24\/why_we_shouldnt.html","title":{"rendered":"Why we shouldn’t fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrea took this particular letter-writer in the Sydney Morning Herald <\/i><\/a>for a bit of a fisking<\/a>, but I feel obliged to throw my two cents in, too.<\/p>\n

“HM” begins:<\/p>\n

Not only should Australia not be part of any war with Iraq, no one should be involved in the ultra-conservative US led drive to control the world. <\/p>\n

That’s right. The US wants to conquer the world. Always has. I mean, look at all the countries we’ve taken over in the last fifty years or so. Look at all the new territory we’ve added to our country. Look at all the states we’ve absorbed. Look at all the …<\/p>\n

Sure, Saddam is nasty. So what?<\/p>\n

So noted by the Kurdish people<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are dozens of distasteful dictator types out there (I’m sure GWB qualifies).<\/p>\n

Yeah, ’cause just last week, GWB ordered the countryside peppered with statues and murals of himself, not to mention fabulous palaces, and paid for it by redirecting food aid from our starving children. Oh, and that Olympic Committee that his daughter runs? It’s been torturing athletes who lose, and torturing ones who get too popular, too.<\/p>\n

And I’m sure it’s a comfort to dictator Bush that he doesn’t have to worry about those pesky elections he abolished, or those political critics he’s sent off to the dungeon, or those annoying newspapers he’s shut down, or …<\/p>\n

(Does HM really have no preference as to whether he’d prefer to live in a Dubya regime or a Saddam regime? Really?<\/i> Yeesh.)<\/p>\n

Does that mean we have to attack all of them? Anyone who thought so would soon be carted off the the asylum.<\/p>\n

Obviously HM has read the Secret Attack Plan on All Distasteful Dictators documents that were leaked from the White House.<\/p>\n

(Does it strike anyone as odd that Saddam is merely noted here as “nasty” and “distasteful”? Do you think the people of Kurdistan, or the Marsh People\/Shi’ites of the south, or the citizens of Kuwait would use the word “distasteful” to describe him?)<\/p>\n

Ask yourself, apart from buying Australian crops, what has Iraq ever done to Australia? Hmm? <\/p>\n

I’ll bet HM has a great time watching other people being mugged.<\/p>\n

Tell you what, HM, next time someone — oh, say, the Japanese — are threatening Australia, the US will measure its response only based on the damage done to us<\/i>, not the threat to you<\/i>. You can be on your own. That’s the spirit of international community you seem to be in favor of.<\/p>\n

The only reason that the coalition is keen on starting this war is fear.<\/p>\n

I thought it was the US Conquest of the World. Get your story straight, HM — is it greed, or is it fear?<\/p>\n

And what, exactly, is wrong <\/i>with fear of what Saddam will do in the future?<\/p>\n

The Americans are scared sh*tless that an Islamic country like (choose one) might actually get some real power (ie nuclear power) and change the staus quo. <\/p>\n

First off, isn’t Pakistan an Islamic country?<\/p>\n

Secondly, hasn’t much of the criticism of the US here been that invading Iraq might upset the status quo?<\/p>\n

Thirdly, do you think the status quo would be improved, or degraded, if, say, Iraq became a nuclear power?<\/p>\n

Finally, Iraq’s status as an Islamic nation may, in general, be accurate, but the Iraqi regime only invokes Allah when it’s looking for good press among its Arab and Persian neighbors. The socialist\/autocratic Baath party is anything but aligned with Islam, and the treatment of the Shi’ite Muslims in the south is as good an indicator of that as any. Heck, you could as easily have said the US didn’t want the Soviet Union to get the A-bomb because it was a Christian <\/i>nation.<\/p>\n

For many years, the US and UK other hangers on, like Australia, have enjoyed manipulating the rest of the world into ‘trade’ that is heavily balanced in ‘our’ favour.<\/p>\n

Yeah, thank heavens other <\/i>countries aren’t into that “trade” thing, or let it influence their foreign policies<\/a>. Let’s abolish trade, the tool of the ultra-conservative conquerors from the US!<\/p>\n

Imagine how the US, et al, would respond if some piss poor third world country decided that enough was enough. That’s right ‘Dad’, they’d kick their butt all over the playground. <\/p>\n

That’s right — we force people to trade with us at gun-point. “Buy these Nikes made in China, or else we’ll plant a nuke up your ass!” That’s the American Spirit!<\/p>\n

Anyone who thinks that war is a good idea should stop to think of the human cost. Not only will many civilains die, Australian soldiers could, very possibly, come home dead. <\/p>\n

What? People might die? War might not be a good thing? These — these concepts are strange to me! I’ve — I’ve never considered the possible cost of lives in a war! I’ve never thought of the devastation that war can bring!<\/p>\n

Now, can anyone tell me why that is acceptable? John Howard cannot. Neither can Bush or Blair. War is not acceptable in any form.<\/p>\n

Which is why you’re speaking Japanese now, rather than English.<\/p>\n

Forget a UN sanctioned war. If the UN inspectors find no reason to justify a breach of the resolutions, the US will make some up and the UN will capitulate. <\/p>\n

So why should the US bother seeking a UN resolution, if they’re all such a bunch of push-overs anyway?<\/p>\n

YOU need to stand up and make your voice heard. No War. <\/p>\n

Speak louder. I don’t think Saddam — the invader of two countries so far, the developer of various weapons of mass destruction, and the supporter of terrorist organizations all over the Middle East — can hear you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrea took this particular letter-writer in the Sydney Morning Herald for a bit of a fisking, but I feel obliged to throw my two cents in, too. “HM” begins: Not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geopolitical-brouhaha"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4360,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/09\/17\/sing_a_song_go.html","url_meta":{"origin":4170,"position":0},"title":"Sing a song, go to prison","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 17-Sep-03 3:19pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, it's full of enough hyperbole that, were it a blog entry on a serious site, folks would be regretfully Fisking it left and right. But as a cartoon, it's...","rel":"","context":"In "Media Moguls"","block_context":{"text":"Media Moguls","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-moguls"},"img":{"alt_text":"Just a Fair Use excerpt! Honest! Click to go to the actual cartoon! Which I did not download! Honest!","src":"\/blog\/images\/freezepunk.png","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9821,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/10\/27\/because_orange_juice_is_v.html","url_meta":{"origin":4170,"position":1},"title":"Because orange juice is “vastly superior” to tomato juice","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 27-Oct-06 4:47pm","format":false,"excerpt":"While I deem myself a Christian, let me state for the record that I find this site -- \"The Bible is vastly superior to the Koran\" -- to be alternately...","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5651,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/01\/30\/hostility.html","url_meta":{"origin":4170,"position":2},"title":"Hostility","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 30-Jan-04 8:01am","format":false,"excerpt":"We've heard of \"hostile work environments,\" where employers are obliged to take disciplinary action against those whose speech and actions offend other employees based on sex, national origin, disability, etc....","rel":"","context":"In "ZT & PC"","block_context":{"text":"ZT & PC","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/zt-pc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31765,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/14\/first-thoughts-on-avengers-arena.html","url_meta":{"origin":4170,"position":3},"title":"First thoughts on "Avengers Arena"","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 14-Dec-12 3:43pm","format":false,"excerpt":"First thoughts on \"Avengers Arena\"Reshared post from +Dave HillFirst thoughts on \"Avengers Arena\"Usually I hold up on the comics reviews until my monthly podcast (cough\u00a0https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/mypodcasts\/dave-does-the-comics cough), but I didn't want to sit on these thoughts until then.(No spoilers below, I don't think, beyond what's already been talked about in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":308,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/05\/06\/boycott.html","url_meta":{"origin":4170,"position":4},"title":"Boycott?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 6-May-03 7:59am","format":false,"excerpt":"You know you should blog something when you get to your third paragraph commenting in someone's blog. Andrea brings up some thoughts on the whole boycott of creative types who...","rel":"","context":"In "Media & Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Media & Culture","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8865,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/04\/02\/on_the_road_aga.html","url_meta":{"origin":4170,"position":5},"title":"On the road (again)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 2-Apr-06 11:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I told Margie on the phone that, as I got off the Hertz bus to pick up my rental car, I realized I was getting really tired of traveling by...","rel":"","context":"In "Job Jollies"","block_context":{"text":"Job Jollies","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/job-jollies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}