Powell casts doubt on Iraq WMDs

[DreamTone7]

I think you're looking in the wrong place, questionnaire. I think the economic aspect was oil back then, as well....not the sale of arms. The vast majority of standard munitions did not come from the US anyway. Try Russia, France and Germany for that. But there is always more than one reason why the US does what it does. If you only choose to see one, you are not seeing the big picture. Khomeni (Iran) was about as big a nut as they come. He makes Saddam look like a walk in the park.

[questionnaire]

"But there is always more than one reason why the US does what it does. If you only choose to see one, you are not seeing the big picture."



That's a weak criticism. When all the factors are collected and analysed, the next step is to prioritize, to start considering their relative weight. A compulsory pluralistic approach to aetiology without the crucial sorting and ranking of interactive factors leaves us in a constant state of confusion, indecision and inaction, wherein of course the core factor(s) remains concealed and protected as we stand staring like idiot savants at the 'big picture'. Anyway, my experience is that there are plenty of loonies in powerful positions in America, and indeed in my own country also .......

[DreamTone7]

What you propose assumes that there is a core factor. There may be none. And once you assign weight to the available factors, you come up with a decision and risk asessment associated with it. Then you either make a move, or you don't, based on the outcome of the process. If all you look at is munition sales, you are most certainly not taking all available data/factors into concideration.....munition sales, as I stated above, really isn't much of a factor at all as far as the US is/was concerned.

[questionnaire]

".... munition sales, as I stated above, really isn't much of a factor at all as far as the US is/was concerned."



That's what they said after the JFK assassination when the corporations were terrified that he might cut military spending. We must not underestimate the importance of armaments to the American economy, but, of course you're right, to ascribe monocausality to munitions sales alone would be absurdly reductionist. Similarly, emphasising the humanistic concern to depose dictators and rescue oppressed populations is also absurdly reductionist. I was using munitions sales as an example of general economic motives, which of course also involve securing crucial oil reserves by achieving political control of the Middle East and opening up the Arab world to American-financed development at a time when there is a genuine crisis in the ability of industry to make adequate profits. To these we must add political and cultural motivations, which centre round the ambition of Israel to survive and eventually expand in the region in the face of understandable Muslim hostility.



Weighting these factors and discovering more that make up the complex whole is difficult enough, but dismissing them in a fit of denial and self-exoneration and replacing them with this 'rescue mission' and 'extremist Muslim leaders' nonsense (there have been religious extremists of all faiths for millennia) makes the ambition of understanding all this virtually impossible. America has been the most powerful and influential nation since WWII, and, more than anything else, its complex politico-economic actions across the globe in that period have driven us to the current rather hostile and unstable historical conjuncture.

[DreamTone7]

Ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times."

[Galmin]

"Mundus vult decipi, decipiatur ergo"