Check out this political cartoon:
Any thoughts?
Lots of underlying issues here:
If the situation in Iraq really does boil down to a civil war between different internal factions, is it our place to intervene? What's the right call here? Certainly France aided us in our revolutionary war, but should they have? How about our civil war? What's the difference?
This also brings up the question, in general, about "imposing" democracy on a people. I'm sure you've all heard it before, but there's this argument tossed around from time to time that contends that a people have to rise up and make their own democracy when they are ready for it -- that is cannot be forced on them. Is this the case? Always? What if a people are incapable of gaining democracy for themselves although they want it? How can we tell if this is the case? Is it bigoted of us to assume democracy is the best form of government for all people?
If the situation in Iraq really does boil down to a civil war between different internal factions, is it our place to intervene? What's the right call here? Certainly France aided us in our revolutionary war, but should they have? How about our civil war? What's the difference?
This also brings up the question, in general, about "imposing" democracy on a people. I'm sure you've all heard it before, but there's this argument tossed around from time to time that contends that a people have to rise up and make their own democracy when they are ready for it -- that is cannot be forced on them. Is this the case? Always? What if a people are incapable of gaining democracy for themselves although they want it? How can we tell if this is the case? Is it bigoted of us to assume democracy is the best form of government for all people?
...many other thoughts come to mind. Either way: a good cartoon.
7 comments:
For the interfering in a civil war, I think the typical philosophical comment "It depends" works well here too. If the civil war becomes just another name for genocide, than I think we certainly have a responsibility to defend human life. But maybe not...how about Rwanda and Sudan?
Other than that, I think there are many differences between a potential civil war in Iraq and our Civil (certainlyan oxymoron) War. Going back to Just War Theory, it would be difficult satisfy many of the Jus ad Bellum requirements such as proportionality and just cause. Whereas one could argue that the civil war was to end slavery, I don't see an equivalent cause or proportional good in a war between the two different sects of Islam. As for Jus in Bello, suicide bombers are the antithesis of discrimination. Certainly one could find parallels, but there are too many differences to compare them side-by-side.
i do think that it depends on whether or not we interfere with another countries issues. however, when you look at times we tried to intervene in vietnam and rwanda, things didnt exactly go according to plan. I understand that the United States is only trying to help, but maybe the best way to help sometimes is to just stay out of it. you can't just force a way of life onto someone. i say that if the sunni's and shi'ites want to have a war amongst themselves, let them duke it out.
As much as I hate to say it, I'm not sure the current issue is if we should've gotten involved in Iraq. The issue now is how we should be invovled, not if. We are already involved, and the best thing to do now is stay the course, and try to instil democracy, if nothing else we may stabilize the country so we can start to move out.
I believe that since these factions have been fighting each other for literally hundreds of years trying to instill democracy is a far out thought. As a country we cannot just pack up and leave because we will leave Iraq in a position to become a fallen state very easily which could possibly worse than rule under Saddam. This puts the US in a very awkward position to try and decide what the best plan of action will be. One suggestion that I have seen is to separate the Kurds, Sunnis, and Shiites into different countries; but as all solutions this would cause problems with neighboring states wanting power over oil fields. The US is truly between a rock and a hard place.
You really think they would stop fighting just because they have their own country? The reasons for them fighting are so old, i don't think they will just peacefully govern their own country. More than likely, they would find a reason to attack and attempt to annihilate one another...
I think as long as we are in Iraq, we should interfere. However, if we pull out and then they decide to go to war, then it is up to the Iraqi government to do what they were set up for. Many people argue that Americans don't have the cultural understanding to tell the Iraqis how to run their government or that we just don't understand how hard it is for the different factions to get along. Well, if this did come down to a civil war, then the Iraq government should have the cultural understanding to find a way to end it.
As a person who interprets the Declaration of Independence’s “all men” to include all humans, not just American’s, I tend to think that Iraqis deserve life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, even if they don’t yet understand the responsibility these rights entail and the burden they can be. Americans will need to, and have been, bearing the burden for them thus far. If we are only thinking about America’s interests and no one else’s, then Iraq has been the worst waste of human life and resources in our nation’s history. You can argue that in the long run a stable Iraq equates to benefits for us but in virtually every realm, our actions in Iraq have hurt America. The Iraq war has cost us the lives of a continually growing number of service members, financial resources that could have been the answer to social security, healthcare, or debt/deficit concerns and an equally great sacrifice has been our image across the globe. In my uneducated opinion, we made a promise to the Iraqi people when we deposed their government and disabled their infrastructure, a promise that is still binding so long as there is a single Iraqi that needs our help to ensure his “inalienable rights.” So when questions of our responsibility to stop civil war, lay the foundations of democracy on loose desert sands that seem incapable of supporting it, finance endeavors that could be the straw that breaks this camel’s back and so on it all comes back to what principles (or lack thereof) we hold as a nation.
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