Off the Mark

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(from Abstract Reality)

But the thing that worries me the most is that when we set ourselves up as a country that takes preemptive strikes, sooner or later we're going to engage in military action that simply is not neccessary. Whether this war in particular is a mistake or not is irrelevant; if this sort of policy continues, then eventually we are going to go too far. Hundreds or thousands or millions of lives will be lost, and we'll never know if it was neccessary or not. Until around half a century ago, this kind of action would be out of the question. Up until the Korean War, we tried as hard as we could to avoid military action of any kind unless it was clearly and undeniably neccessary. Both of the World Wars we only entered when there was a direct threat to us that could not be denied or dealt with except by the use of military might. Up until today, we refused to go to war unless there was no other choice.

And now we've gone to Iraq, against the wishes of the world, our allies, and many of our people. We don't know if this war will prevent any future bloodshed. It may, and it probably will, but we will never know. And that, to be honest, scares the hell out of me.


(the full post here)