[lit-ideas] Re: Odom on Iran, Iraq and defeat

From: Andy Amago <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 16:59:21 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
during the lead up to the Iraq War, it took guts to oppose 
>it. 

I think you have it backwards.  Supporting an offensive war takes guts, not 
brains.  An offensive war is an emotional, visceral act.  In this case it was 
100% visceral to the extent that not even planning went into it.  Then for four 
years the guts continued, no analysis, no assessment, no dispassionate checking 
on progress, no brain at all.  And it continues still.  If (when) this surges 
fails, what's left for us?  Why didn't we regoup when we had time; pull out, 
form a world coalition, go back in and clean it up (Odom)?  Instead, the 
coalition they're forming now is for the Iran adventure: the U.S., Israel, 
Sunni states such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt on one side, and Iran on the other, 
by default since we squeezed them into that position.  Once again, the U.S. 
knows in their guts this is the right thing to do.  Emotions rule, the brain 
kicks in when the emotions are spent, in time only to survey the damage...  





-----Original Message-----
>From: Eric <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Feb 17, 2007 1:35 PM
>To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Odom on Iran, Iraq and defeat
>
> >>So, please either explain why you won't enlist or stop talking nonsense.
>
>
>Oh wow, bullying people one bullies by claims they are bullying others. 
>There was nothing bullying about Brian's posts -- unless the cognitive 
>dissonance of considering other viewpoints is bullying. If that's 
>bullying, then the liberal impulse (considering a wide variety of 
>viewpoints) is just a desire to confirm one's own opinion, no matter how 
>haywire it is.
>
>At this point, people who support the surge -- and I support the surge, 
>so far as giving it a 6-month test -- are being bullied by quasifascist 
>knowitalls. It takes guts to consider a belief that's held by only 30 
>percent of the population, and Brian is putting his money where his 
>mouth is when he questions Field Marshall Murtha's doctrine.
>
>Similarly, during the lead up to the Iraq War, it took guts to oppose 
>it. Andreas had guts then, now but he seems unwilling to grant the same 
>contrarian status to others.
>
>I respect David Petraeus, and if he says it's lost, I'll believe that. 
>Some prefer Field Marshall Murtha. That's their choice.
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[lit-ideas] Re: Odom on Iran, Iraq and defeat

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