[OPE-L:8509] Re: Socialism and War

From: gerald_a_levy (gerald_a_levy@msn.com)
Date: Tue Feb 25 2003 - 09:07:38 EST


Re Rakesh's [8506]:

> Even if this is true, I don't think it explains why, then, the US is
> preoccupied with the Gulf rather than say nuclear weapon wielding
> North Korea.

A possible military confrontation with North Korea is far different
from a military confrontation with Iraq.  By way of analogy, the
US government in the early 1980's wanted to overthrow the
governments in (among other places) Cuba and Grenada.  Why
did they invade Grenada and not Cuba?  Well, they thought they
could invade Grenada within a very brief time with minimal
projected casualties. If they invaded Cuba, they knew it wouldn't
go down like that.  Of course, when the US invades Iraq the
cost to the US in terms of casualties and budgetary expense will
be far greater than what happened in Grenada.  But, it would
be far less than if they invaded North Korea.  The US relation to
S. Korea and Japan is also an important factor guiding the
tactic chosen by the Bush administration for dealing with the so-
called 'crisis' in North Korea.

As for the timing of the US confrontation with Iraq (following up
on my comment in 8450),  before Bush  took office Cheney, Rumsfeld,
and Co.  had already agreed that "regime change" in Iraq was necessary
from their perspective.  Yet,  Iraq only became a major issue for the
administration after 9/11.   This suggests that irrespective of the
underlying economic and political reasons, the timing was in large part
opportunist.  That is, with the shift to the Right after 9/11, Bush and Co.
realized that they were able to push parts of their agenda at an
accelerated rate.  It was for the purposes of manufacturing consent for war
by people in the US that the whole alleged (and unfounded) Al-Quida-Iraq
connection was propagandized.  Creating fear and hysteria about
'WMD' was also a part of this process of opportunizing on 9/11
by the Right to rationalize war and the rest of the right-wing agenda.

In solidarity, Jerry


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