[Peace-discuss] A fresh wind blows against the Empire.

[E. Wayne Johnson]

Agreed.

Will is making a pragmatic argument against the war.

I am not sure that Will is incapable of making the ethical argument,
but you are correct in saying that he really does not make any ethical 
argument.
He does offer "they don't want us to be there" as an excuse to depart.

Hopefull his pragmatic argument will sway those who have "other 
principles" as did the "other Marx".




On 9/6/2009 11:09 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> Principled?  Will seems to me to be making a purely prudential 
> judgment.  Or, as we say today, "pragmatic," which means a judgment 
> that specifically excludes ethical considerations.
>
> There are two quite different ways to oppose America's Mideast war:
>
> [1] it will cost too much to achieve US war aims; or
>
> [2] it's a crime.
>
> Will seems to be embracing [1], not [2].  --CGE
>
>
> E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
>> /"People can try and fool themselves that...Obama truly wants peace. 
>> The reality of facts on the ground dispute this.  We are deceiving 
>> ourselves if we think otherwise.  Obama is fully on the trajectory of 
>> the Empire, there is no denying this…I do not place the blame for 
>> imperial violence on any president:  It is the system...What can the 
>> people do to counteract our governments that don’t have our best 
>> interests in mind?"/
>> - Cindy Sheehan
>>
>> Fresh Winds Blow Against the Empire, as the Nation Tires of Futile, 
>> Endless, Back-Breaking War.
>> by E. Wayne Johnson   republicmedia.tv (http://tiny.cc/ewjrmtv6sep09)
>>
>> Conservatives Flee Failed NeoCon Dogmata, while Anti-War Left Fumes 
>> at Obama, and Former BHO Supporters Struggle to Fight Back Buyer's 
>> Remorse.
>>
>> After 8 years, nearly a trillion dollars spent (that's the "Official" 
>> Figure, the "total spent" on the war when the "off-the-balance sheet" 
>> expenditure is known undoubtably much much more), over 5100 US lives 
>> lost, tens of thousands wounded, and more soldiers suffering from 
>> shellshock/PTSD, what do Americans have to show for the sacrifice?  
>> Bubkes.  Bubkes.  Who's got the bubkes?...
>> In the ancient Chinese classic Sun Zi Bing Fa ("Master Sun's Art of 
>> War"), Master Sun advised 2500 years ago that there are only two 
>> possible outcomes of War:  Survival or Ruin.  Considering that 
>> neither Iraq nor Afghanistan had threatened our survival, the 
>> inevitable ruin was anticipated by our wiser leaders, but not by 
>> those who were in charge.
>>
>> In a couple of extraordinary columns last week in the Washington 
>> Post, Conservative Pundit George Will speaks out against Bush's war 
>> which has expanded into Obama's war.  "The war already is nearly 50 
>> percent longer than the combined U.S. involvements in two world wars" 
>> says Will, who finds a solution for military success in Afghanistan 
>> to be "inconceivable".   Will also notes that the Iraqis are quite 
>> likely to demand an end to the despised US occupation of their 
>> sovereign land, and says "The United States should treat this as a 
>> Dirty Harry Moment: Make our day.", meaning that a "Yankee Go Home" 
>> message from the Iraqi voters should be the cue for our long-overdue 
>> departure from Iraq.
>> Will suggests that there might be some need for a military force in 
>> the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, but nonetheless his 
>> principled stance against the war is reminiscent of the pre-neocon 
>> Robert Taft Conservative days when the GOP was the peace party and 
>> the Dems were the war party.
>>
>> Arch-neocon William ("Bloody Bill") Kristol wasted no time in 
>> asserting that George had lost his "will" by "urging retreat, and 
>> accepting defeat", and encouraging more expenditures and more effort 
>> and more troops in Afghanistan.  One is not surprised to hear such 
>> from Bill Kristol and gang.
>>
>> (read more:  http://tiny.cc/ewjrmtv6sep09)
>
>