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Dear Nels, dear all
To answer specifically your point, I agree entirely.
The idea of an international police force is an
idealistic one and I don't pretend that at any stage
in history this has been done with any degree of
impartiality, nor do I believe that with the current
balance of power it is possible: closer to that ideal
is a situation where the world is occupied by >1
superpower, ensuring at least some need to accomodate
2 different positions of interest: far from objective,
just and independent policing, I agree, but alot
closer to it than the hegemony we currently live
under.
With regard to the current sanctions question, a more
truly global police force might now see fit to lift
the sanctions, whereas under the current state of
affairs the one superpower can block any moves to
counter its policy. But I remain true to the concept
as an ideal.
Best wishes
Mark
--- nelsbacon <nelsbacon@earthlink.net> wrote: > Two
simple questions to try to put some prominent
> arguments re. Iraq into
> perspective:
>
> 1. During Saddam Hussein's lifetime, which country
> has waged more
> cold-blooded wars
> of mass destruction and mass murdered and terrorized
> more civilians: Iraq
> under Saddam
> Hussein, or the U.S. under successive Republi-Crat
> presidents of the U.S.
> whose foreign
> policies remain the same regardless of which
> "political" party's hat they
> wear?
> 2. Recalling the recent FEMA "civilian population
> control exercise" in
> central California,
> and government responses to civilian dissent in
> Seattle, Philadelphia and
> Los Angeles,
> what kind of response would you reasonably expect
> from the U.S. State and
> Federal
> Governments, their police and military agencies, if
> the citizens of any
> state, major region in
> the country, or prominent ethnic group (example,
> Mexican or Native
> Americans) rose up
> and demanded independence or autonomy, or actively
> allied themselves with a
> nation with
> which the U.S. was at war?
>
> Foreboding note: Both current candidates for U.S.
> president are drumming
> up votes
> across the country by promising with ever increasing
> forcefulness to "get
> tougher" and take "a more aggressive position"
> (i.e. more missiles, bombs,
> terror and
> deaths) against Iraq.than the Clinton/Gore "bombers
> & genocide by
> sanctions team" have
> been doing since they came into power. Particularly
> disturbing is that
> these candidates
> are especially targeting this kind of rhetoric - to
> enthusiastic applause
> and support -- at
> appearances before Jewish groups and American
> military "Veteran"
> organizations.
>
> Re: Mark's support for an "International Police
> Force":
> Who do you recomment control it? NATO?
> The World's #1 Warrior Nation?
> The UN Security Council?
> The UN Secy. General who has gone to bed with
> International Corporations?
>
> nels
> --------------
>
> Mark Al-Sinjakli wrote:
>
> > Dear Larry
> >
> > I think most on the list would agree that there
> needs
> > to be some sort of international police force to
> > prevent expansionist activity, and that there was
> a
> > humanitarian case as well as an economic one for
> the
> > UN, led by the US, opposing and rebutting the
> Iraqi
> > invasion of Kuwait.
> >
> > Which leads us to three related questions:
> >
> > 1. Why was the Iraqi regime effectively given the
> > green light for the invasion by a high-ranking US
> > official just before the invasion?
> >
> > 2. Why was there no earlier condemnation or
> > intervention when the Iraqi regime committed other
> > atrocities, for example the use of chemical
> weapons
> > against its own people in Halabja? Indeed as was
> > recently stated on the CASI discussion list
> members of
> > the UK foreign office were told to give the
> 'correct
> > positive response' on Saddam Hussein's regime when
> > asked, as Iraq was an ally of the west at that
> time.
> >
> > 3. Putting to one side whether the US has acted
> in a
> > morally consistent way up until the invasion, can
> we
> > honestly say that the seige currently being laid
> on
> > Iraq, resulting in the deaths of 500,000 children
> and
> > rising, is a proportional and necessary response
> to
> > this 10 year old invasion?
> >
> > Asking for a yes/no response is an unnacceptable
> > simplification because the US and UK actively
> > supported Saddam Hussein for years in spite of
> being
> > aware of numerous atrocities: therefore it is
> > insulting to see an over-simplified portrayal of
> them
> > as the good guys and others as the bad; global
> > politics is never so clear-cut, except in films.
> >
> > All the best
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > --- Lar4mccain@aol.com wrote: > Friends
> > >
> > > Hi. Hope that all is well with everyone.
> Let
> > > me pose this question as a
> > > yes and no question. With the Iraqi threat to
> > > Kuwait, do you think that the
> > > United States should protect Kuwait (regardless
> of
> > > whether oil is in interest
> > > or not)? For I was in Kuwait and yes, I know
> that I
> > > was there for oil. I
> > > accept that..yet I also saw the faces of Kuwaiti
> > > kids waving to me and saying
> > > thank you for saving them.
> > >
> > > For them it wasnt about oil and at that
> moment,
> > > it wasnt for me either.
> > >
> > > In Gods Peace
> > > Larry Provost
> > > US Army Veteran
> > > Operation Desert Thunder
> > > --
> > >
> >
>
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> > > This is a discussion list run by the Campaign
> > > Against Sanctions on Iraq
> > > For removal from list, email
> > > soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk
> > > Full details of CASI's various lists can be
> found on
> > > the CASI website:
> > > http://www.casi.org.uk
> >
> > =====
> > Mark Al-Sinjakli
> >
> > email: scouseanthmark@yahoo.co.uk
> > mark@casi.org.uk
> >
> >
>
____________________________________________________________
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>
=====
Mark Al-Sinjakli
email: scouseanthmark@yahoo.co.uk
mark@casi.org.uk
____________________________________________________________
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Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk
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