Reply #39: Many rational, responsible, decent and well-intentioned people [View All]

[necso]

believe something like the following:

1) If we pull out now, (more and worse) chaos and violence will ensue.
2) If we stay and help some fledgling government out, then eventually it will no longer need our help. (Suggested timeframes differ.)
3) As this "Vietnamization" (my word) occurs, things will get better, our costs and casualties will decline, and we can reduce troops over time to the point of pulling out.
4) This process will leave behind a stable Iraqi state that we can live with.

I call bullshit. My view is:

1) Iraq is "going up" sometime after we pull out, no matter what.
2) The state that emerges there will not be to our liking -- or benefit -- whatsoever.
3) The best that we can hope for is some "decent interval" between when we leave -- and when the futility of our efforts there becomes finally apparent (except to those who refuse to "see" anything that they don't want to see -- and there are always huge numbers of these people).
4) There is absolutely no reason to pay an additional price for the useless pretense that a "decent interval" would provide.
5) We should cut our losses, cut off the war-profiteers, and just get it over with. It's a tooth that needs to be pulled -- let's get it over with.

But I can live with someone who takes something like the first view. It is human (for a decent human being) to wish for some good, decent, humane outcome (a future outcome, in this case) to things, especially when the short-term alternative is clearly such ugliness. It is human (for a decent human being) to be hopeful and to wish for the best generally. It is also human to let these things influence one's judgment and influence one's plans -- to the point of reducing these plans to wishful-thinking, costly absurdities.

Still, when dealing with decent human beings, I am generally tolerant of their wish to do the "right" thing, as they see it. I understand that what is happening is human weakness in action. -- And I understand that I could always be wrong and that they could be right. So I usually go along if the promised disaster is not too great -- (and) or if it is not too pressing.

But while the ends may justify the means, nothing justifies using means that are stupid, or thoughtless -- or delusional. (etc, etc)

And one can generally never make up for lost opportunities on this scale -- never.