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Following the Herd

OK, I guess it’s time to do my bloggly duty. I’m speaking, of course, of asserting a position on the war in Iraq. Seems like it’s de rigeur for anybody with any sort of a podium to spout off on the subject, and who am I to buck that trend?

I’m opposed to the war. As near as I can tell, my opposition arises from the following points (all IMNSHO, of course):

Saddam is a dictator of the worst sort - he hungers for power and does not refrain from harming his people in order to acquire it. Reasonable people and nations have an interest in removing such individuals from power in other nations (though I’d think this interest is secondary to removing such individuals from power in their own nation - so the ideal situation would have the Iraqi people revolting against Saddam without outside influence). Thus, we (as reasonable people) have an interest in removing Saddam from power. BUT, it seems to me that Bush is not acting from this interest in this war. It looks like he’s just warmongering. I don’t know if he’s bucking from higher opinion polls, replaying his father’s war, or what - but he’s going about things the wrong way.

In particular, his argument that Saddam’s defiance of the UN renders that organization ineffectual is wrong-headed. Sure, Saddam’s behavior reflects poorly on the power of the UN, as does the UN’s reluctance to pass stronger resolutions. But JUST AS DAMAGING TO THE UN is Bush’s headlong rush to take matters into his own hands. It’s *argh!* frustrating. The UN is NOT irrelevant, but both Iraq and America are treating it as such.

OK, I’m off my ill-defined and poorly-presented soapbox now. Sorry for the political interlude - it’s not something I indulge in very often, and I imagine I shan’t do it again for quite a while.