There is no question that violence can be a means to an end. After all there really was no doubt that our military could get rid of Sadam’s regime and set up a democracy in Iraq. There is also no question that violence is the result of human intellect running out of juice. Therefore this war was, and will always be a failure. We failed on every level leading up to this war. As far as wars go this one was definitely the most civilized in history. But the stories human sacrifice and acts of courage that Ollie North tries to romanticize are just humans making the best of a bad situation and don’t change the fact that war is the absolute worse humanity has to offer.
One of the many difference between the left and the right is the left tries to fight against human nature and continually strives to rise above it. The right sees these so-called Human truths as immutable and just accepts them. But humanity has overcome many so-called human truths to become civilized.
I’m tired of the right and sometimes even the left, telling us that we should accept human nature as immutable. We have the religious right saying were all sinners and there’s nothing we can do about it except ask for forgiveness from a deity. And that death is inevitable and in fact necessary to complete Gods plan for us. Demented lefties like Howard Stern, saying that adults who don’t think about sex like a fifteen-year-old are just living in denial of human nature.
What about when humans no longer die from natural causes and Death, the biggest so-called Human truth of all, is debunked? Which according to a Geneticist at Cambridge will be a lot sooner than you think. Although including his picture with the article wasn’t a very smart idea.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4003063.stm
Now it is possible we could have done everything right along the way and still ended up having to go to war with Iraq. However we cannot deny the fact that we did almost nothing right. We have to realize there was a good chance this war could have been avoided by us, and endeavor to improve our foreign policies and try to see these problems coming. Then try to use gray matter instead of muscle fiber to solve them. It baffles me how the right sees this effort as being wildly idealistic and downright unpatriotic.
The left at least understands that this war was quite possibly the inevitable conclusion of stupidity. And are, as we should all be, profoundly disappointed. Because they’ve now had elections (which is certainly a good thing don’t get me wrong), the right now thinks if the left doesn’t see the war as a total success then they’re just being sore losers and incapable of admitting they were wrong. Completely ignoring the fact that the end does not justify the means. The right patting them selves on the back, strutting around now like there’re vindicated is offensive. It’s like their saying; see bombs will work let’s build more. Talk about low expectations.
The right seems to slobber all over itself to excuse this administration. I mean if someone in the media gets their facts wrong there incompetent and should be fired. I don’t see how anyone right or left, Republican or Democrat can completely excuse this administration for their total failure to make sure they had accurate intelligence before going to war.
A couple of secretaries watching CNN in shifts could have done just as good a job as the most advanced well funded intelligence organization in history did. These are the people that are supposed to protect us from someone stashing a nuke under the president’s bed. I’d be looking under the bed every night if I were Bush.
Yes I know the whole world thought he had WMD’s Well the whole world based that belief on our intelligence. The UK and the US were really the only countries watching Iraq at the time. The Russian and Germans intelligence on Iraq was almost 20 years old. Back then (the good ole days), everyone trusted us to at least be competent.
I remember when I was young saying the stuff you see now the government has had for 20 years, and thinking how cool it would be to get a tour of area 51. Now I think they’re just testing next years model there. I guess I had to grow up sometime. Now I find myself hoping this administration did lie and manipulated us into war.
Violence in all forms will eventually be overcome as well. I have no doubt that we will overcome all so-called human truths in time. Humanity does not have to give into Human nature; that would be cowardly. The fact that we are self-aware will allow us to control and eventually outgrow our instincts.