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Originally posted by RACooper
Okay I'm sorry I was using the conventional defenition of genocide... what Sadam was doing to the Marsh Arabs should be called "Ethnic Cleansing"... if it was genocide they would try to drive them out, they'd just kill them. Yes it's horrible, but words such as genocide shoudn't be used so liberally by either side for the shock value.
Okay I asked for examples of Iraq's active efforts to destablize the region.. not the Rumsfeld told me so argument... after-all I could just as easily accuse you of falling for "right-wing" propoganda (you know WMD, Al Queda connection, greeted with open arms, out in a year.. stuff like that). But no I don't believe that they had a wonderful government, and know I'm not a "Sadam-lover", but it is important to realize that evil men will fight to stay on top, and while that's shitty for "good" or innocent people, it also means that other "evil" people are viewed as a threat too.
No I didn't expect results in a year, but the level of terrorism has risen... to I believe record levels? If religious fanaticism can be viewed as the root cause for much of this terrorism, then removing a significant opponent of it (whatever his motivations) will undoubtedly lead to a rise in this fanaticism as power vacuums are filled. It is a very real risk that the Iraq war could spawn more terror groups or new strongmen in the region (if not Iraq). If you look beyond the polls on whether or not the Iraqi's love or hate the US, and look at the percentages of Iraqi's demand security, then you see the threat of them following whomever provides them with this "security". Now we have the newly appointed leader of Iraq, a former CIA operative who engaged in "insurrgent activities" against Sadam saying that he will clamp down and restore security by whatever means are neccesary...
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"systematic bombardment of villages, widespread arbitrary arrests, torture, “disappearances,” summary executions, and forced displacement"
That's a liberal interpreation of genocide? Granted, it wasn't the Holocaust. Nothing else was, but it was genocide. Why do you think Eli Weisel pleaded with President Bush to invade Iraq in first week of March, 2003? Let me guess, Eli Weisel knows little about genocide, but you do.
The example that Iraq tried to destabilize the region? How about this; after 9-11, Iraq began to flood money into groups like Hamas. They became the #1 funder of such groups. Its really that simple, but maybe you think that the stability of the Middle East is divorced from media portraya ofl the Israeli-Palestenian conflict.
As far as an increase in terrorism, it hasn't happened on American soil, so yeah, we're safer.
And the root cause is deeper than religous fanatacism. That fanataicism has root causes, which are state controlled media that blames everything on the US and Israel (and I mean everything), madrasas that teach hate, and depressed economic conditions caused by corrupt and incompetent governments.
Those are the root causes. The status quo reinforces them, and stregthens them. Attacking Al Qaeda in Afghanistan won't remove the root causes. Playing nice with Sadaam Hussein won't remove the root causes.
Democracy will diminish, and eventually eliminate the root causes of Jihadism. By removing the most brutal dictatorship in the region, that would have fought regional democratization every step of the way, and replacing it with a democracy, there is now real hope. It just may prove to be a stroke of genius.