Posted by Lorelei (199.74.100.30) on January 25, 2002 at 00:43:03:
In Reply to: something more posted by Jeff on January 24, 2002 at 21:32:01:
Yes, the US did pull out. I agree with you
and i feel its sad that Saddam didn't die
during the gulf war. But, lets say they did take
out saddam. Do you know what kind of ramifications
that has, about national sovereignty, international
law (or lack thereof), rights of jurisdiction
(and where they end) and precedence? If we kill or
sponsor killing, what if China wants to do so
as well? If we design protocols for mandating
which leaders get killed, who says anyone will
or must follow it? If there is a bloody power struggle
thereafter who is there to construct the gov.?
Certainly not the Americans or the executor,
since the Americans are not Iraqis and cannot
tell or coerce the Iraqis to govern themselves
in a certain way.
Again, sanctions are the lesser evil of the two
i mentioned. It sucks that our people are suffering
but what sucks even more is that no one is realizing
the power behind saddam is made up of iraqis
who do have power to shift allegiance. Since we don't
have an international law that creates an international
jurisdiction that is BINDING, the only thing we SHOULD
(note the word should) is use alternate
strategies for "coercion," like
diplomacy, multilateral treaties, and economic
sanctions like we already do.