Quote:
Originally Posted by Growler
OK, Tak, I can understand your point. So I'm going to take the thought a step further: What constitutes a "fabricated basis?"
By the way, I do agree with you in re: the world not being a safer place, but I contend that it wasn't a safe place long before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, or even the 11 Sep attacks, either. Our European members who were around in the latter half of the 20th Century could attest to the safe world of the IRA and the various Red Army factions blowing up discos in the FRG.
Last thought for now: If we Americans, with the responsibility of being one of the more powerful nations on Earth, are not to be tasked with being the world's police, then who is? Furthermore, without anyone taking responsibility for it, what's left?
Now, if we are acting as the world's police, that's one thing. Clearly, the US hasn't stopped at just that, and has projected its forms of government with its policing. I'm speaking solely of policing, not imperialism.
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Yeah, 'fabrication' was probably poor word selection on my part. What I really mean is more along the lines of 'inaccurate'. These facilities, mobile chemistry labs and whatnot never appeared, and probably never existed. However, I'm not a person who believes that this discrepancy between pre-war intelligence and post-war reality was intentional.
Technically, the UN is the world's police force, but I think we can all agree on just how effective they actually are. That being said, I don't think that the world really needs a policing nation. We more or less act in this capacity, but our actions do not accomplish the goal of any policing action; that being stability. Look at the ongoing Somali civil war. We tried in that case, and all we had to show for our actions was a fat lip and an emboldened local militia. I think that example has been more typical than not of our intervention across the globe.
I agree that we aren't talking about imperialism here. Iraq is not, and will never be a colony of the United States. We're talking about policing action with the goal of stabilizing nations and regions, and I think that we are failing in that pursuit.