Thursday, June 30, 2005
A Midwife's Tale
Here's a letter from today's Strib:
Here's an open challenge to those who oppose the war in Iraq: Anyone who thinks the war was a mistake should spend the next year-and-a-half in the Middle East explaining why America is wrong to bring freedom and democracy to an area of the world that has never known it. (emphasis mine)
Dave Thul, Chaska
Honestly, if I were him, I would check out a history book or two before giving voice to such a bold challenge. Nothing makes my blood boil like idiots who believe that the United States has perennially played midwife to freedom and independence worldwide. "Oh look, it's a democracy!!! Awwww, it's soooooooooo cuuuuuute. Doesn't it look just like America when it was young?" Ok, maybe that was a little creepy, but let me present just one example, in the interest of time, that proves how ignorant this view is: Iran. Iran was well on its way to a real democracy in the early 50's when the United States organized a coup to overthrow the immensely popular elected leader Mossadegh because we wanted to protect our own interests. We knew full well that Mossadegh was working to represent the best interests of the Iranian people. History is replete with examples such as this. Anyone who believes we're doing what we're doing now just for the love of democracy and the Middle Eastern people is either stupid or delusional.
Here's an open challenge to those who oppose the war in Iraq: Anyone who thinks the war was a mistake should spend the next year-and-a-half in the Middle East explaining why America is wrong to bring freedom and democracy to an area of the world that has never known it. (emphasis mine)
Dave Thul, Chaska
Honestly, if I were him, I would check out a history book or two before giving voice to such a bold challenge. Nothing makes my blood boil like idiots who believe that the United States has perennially played midwife to freedom and independence worldwide. "Oh look, it's a democracy!!! Awwww, it's soooooooooo cuuuuuute. Doesn't it look just like America when it was young?" Ok, maybe that was a little creepy, but let me present just one example, in the interest of time, that proves how ignorant this view is: Iran. Iran was well on its way to a real democracy in the early 50's when the United States organized a coup to overthrow the immensely popular elected leader Mossadegh because we wanted to protect our own interests. We knew full well that Mossadegh was working to represent the best interests of the Iranian people. History is replete with examples such as this. Anyone who believes we're doing what we're doing now just for the love of democracy and the Middle Eastern people is either stupid or delusional.
