A Level Gaze |
|
|
"What effect must it have on a nation if it learns no foreign languages? Probably much the same as that which a total withdrawal from society has upon an individual." --G.C. Lichtenberg LinksNew Email Address! levelgaze@gmail.com Blogs NoWarBlog The Lefty Directory The Agonist aintnobaddude alicublog Alas, a Blog Altercation Ambivalent Imbroglio AmericaBlog American Street Amygdala Anger Management Angry Bear Armed Liberal Bad Attitudes Barney Gumble Bartcop Beyond Corporate Billmon Blah3 Body and Soul Booman Tribune Brad DeLong Busy Busy Busy Buzzflash By Neddie Jingo Calculated Risk CalPundit Chase me ladies Chris Nelson Contested Terrrain Cooped Up Conceptual Guerilla corrente Counterspin Crooked Timber Daily Howler Daily Kos Decembrist Demosthenes Driftglass D-Squared Digest Electrolite Eschaton Ethel Ezra Klein Fafblog! Fanatical Apathy Firedoglake First Draft Fistful of Euros get donkey! Globblog The Hamster Here's What's Left Horowitz Watch Housing Bubble Hullabaloo Intl News Istanblog James Wolcott Jesus' General Juan Cole Junius Lean Left Left Coast Breakdown Letter from Gotham Liberal Oasis MacDiva MadKane Mahablog Majikthise Making Light Marginal Revolution Mark Kleiman Matthew Yglesias MaxSpeak Media Whores Online Michael Finley Michael Froomkin MyDD My Left Wing Nathan Newman Off the Kuff Oliver Willis Orcinus Pandagon Pen-Elayne Pfaffenblog PLA The Poor Man R.B. Ham Raed in the Middle Ragout Raw Story ReachM High Cowboy Rittenhouse Review The Road to Surfdom Roger Ailes Rude Pundit Ruminate This Seeing the Forest Seize the Fish Self Made Pundit Sideshow Sirotablog Sisyphus Shrugged Skippy Slacktivist South Knox Bubba Steve Gilliard Talking Points Memo Talk Left The Talking Dog Tapped TBogg Ted Barlow Testify! Thinking It Through Through the Looking Glass TNR Online Tres Producers TRR Two Tears in a Bucket uggabugga Unknown News Vaara Wampum War Liberal Winning Argument Wonkette WTF Is It Now General Interest BBC News The Economist Metafilter RealPolitik Robot Wisdom 
Archives 
|
Saturday, February 15, 2003
Regime Change - What is it Good For? The idea of “regime change:” exactly what, relative to the current state of affairs, do the warmongers expect to accomplish by it? At the moment, Iraq is, de facto, in a state of surrender. We now have near-total military control over 2/3 of the country, and prohibitive air superiority over the rest. Upon very short notice, we’ll be able to bring to bear enough force to utterly preempt any Iraqi military initiatives. We have sanctions in place that severely restrict the flow of money and goods into the country. We have weapons inspectors on the ground, who have complete freedom of movement, and who override Iraqi sovereignty at whim. Saddam is cooperating, however reluctantly, with the UN. Why? Because he doesn’t want war. Any untoward action on his part will immediately be used as justification to remove him. It is therefore unimaginable that he will undertake aggressive actions against anyone. What changes will a war, and presumed regime change effect? Aside from inevitable death and destruction, there is the prospect of liberation for many Iraqis. There is the prospect of suffering for many more, especially the Kurds. Given the lack of unanimity among opposition groups on the subject of invasion, there is only uncertainty as to whether the people will benefit. The one sure result of regime change is U.S. control of Iraqi land and resources. That is the only thing that can be accomplished by means of war and nothing else. Let’s stop kidding ourselves by pretending otherwise. 
|