Date: Thu, 07 Jan 1999 11:19:06 -0800
Subject: Re: Edward Said: Iraq: Clinton's Rampage


>Lisa McNee asks:   What should the world's response be to this situation? Even if one >is against imperialism, surely this does not mean accepting a dictatorship as a viable >form of "self-determination" worthy of protection?
 Is it possible that a country gets what it wants - or at least deserves
- and that outsiders should not interfere - particularly since the info
we get is warped to fit the point of view of our government and our
press. I did business in Cold War Russia - in some ways it was
preferable to the USA - but our govt and press would never have told
you. As a minimum we should not give arms to governments that use them
against their own people - as we do with Mexico and cenral ameriaca and
indonesia.  Maybe we should boycott governments that provide weapons to
dictators - but the US has been the major source of such weapons - so
who is in control here? (I am in US)
The rebels in the US fought off the King - France came to help but did
not take control of the insurrection. If the rebels had not been willing
to fight should the French have declared war to free them? And when
freed of one evil leader another less than perfect leader usually arises
- Batista vs Castro - maybe castro is better but probably not good. The
Shaw vs the subsequent nuts. The King vs men like Stonewall Jackson.


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