adam wrote:

] So direct stategic reasons, real politic is the justification
] and moral questions are by the way. It sounds like a
] justification of imperialism to me. Like Nixon in China.

Justification, no. We're foisting our will on other people for our benefit, but we're not enslaving them. We can't. The general public has enough power to prevent that from occuring. Its a kinder, gentler imperialism. The imperialists can only get away with stuff the people don't understand. And the people have internets where digital cam pics of prison abuse occaisonally get leaked.

Imperialism really isn't the same animal in a world where the nation state is in decline, and thats why these questions are still on the table.

I'd call this Regan and the MX missles more then Nixon in China. Bush isn't talking. He's shooting, and he wants everyone to know that he is prepared to shoot even more.

] If the result produces a state and world that is less
] violent then is Pax Americana justified. Do the ends
] justify the means?

Not just less violent, but less violent and more free. A dictatorship is just violence waiting to happen. Its like potential energy. We want to escape the cycle of war and oppression by building institutions that respond to bad leadership non-violently, with things like elections.

RE: Iraqis crowd the polls | csmonitor.com