Credibility
I doubt I’ll talk about the war much. See American Samizdat , Electrolite , or, for obsessively detailed coverage, The Agonist . I am compelled to comment on China’s condemnation though:
China demanded Thursday that military action against Iraq stop immediately and said the initial attack was “violating the norms of international behavior.” […] Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan told U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell that China “strongly urged an end to military actions against Iraq so as to avoid hurting innocent people,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Tang also told Powell that China is “deeply worried about humanitarian disasters, regional turbulence” and other ramifications of the war, the report said.
I heard that and snorted. “That’s rich, coming from the butchers of Tibet.”
And then I realized that for generations to come that’ll be the rest of the world’s reaction to any criticism by the U.S. of other nations’ military adventurism.
A few months ago, President Bush made some disparaging remarks about Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. Mugabe certainly was deserving of them; he's clearly one of the worst tyrants in power today. Among the offenses mentioned by Bush was the blatantly fraudulent election that kept him in power last year.
Mugabe's reply was something to the effect of, "Given that Bush wasn't legitimately elected himself, who is he to question my legitimacy?"
I must admit that he had a good point.
But for that matter, America's hands haven't been clean of crimes against humanity since the massacres of the Native Americans. And you'd be hard pressed to find any group of people on Earth who don't have some episode in their history of being conquerors and slaughterers. That doesn't prevent one from being able to tell right from wrong. Nor, on the other hand, does it gurantee that one will make the proper judgment, or act on it if one does.
Posted by Jimcat on March 21 2003 12:26
Oh, I know our history hasn't been pristine, and that neither is anyone else's. And I don't expect our record in Iraq to be as bad as China's in Tibet.
But, still, with the utter contempt this administration has shown for diplomacy and world opinion, I do think it has dealt a blow to our national credibility that will echo for generations.
Posted by Zed on March 23 2003 10:07