President Bush is trying to summon support for a war on Iraq based on the “rightness” of our action – he’s arguing that we have a right to protect ourselves from destructive acts. But there isn’t any acknowledgment that Iraq must have the same right to defend itself from aggression and invasion.
By engaging in a power contest, we hope to destroy many of the resources of our enemy in order to nullify Iraq’s ability to not only attack us but to be a player in the struggle for oil. But there will be high costs to us in such destructive actions. Besides the loss of life and financial outlay, we will create anger, an intense desire for revenge among Arab states, and extreme distrust in our relationships with many other countries.
This push for rights and the use of power seems to be a persistent knee-jerk reaction of our leaders to major international conflicts involving our interests. Even the demands we and the U.N. have made for inspections, and the economic sanctions we’ve imposed, have been other uses of power. But rights and power methods are not the best ways to find solutions that will be long-lasting and have a high level of satisfaction for all parties.
We’re part of a global community that is reacting negatively to our bullying other countries into doing what we want. We can’t afford to look at every situation just from our own point of view. I know many people believe that if we aren’t aggressive in protecting our rights we will be run over by the demands of others. But that isn’t the only stance to take. We can be strong in standing up for our interests without trampling on the interests of others. But we have to learn new skills and use new methods.
Mill Creek
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
