[Peace] Re: [sf-core] Thursday: Champaign-Urbana report release on Cost of Iraq War

[Joe Futrelle]

John W. wrote:
> At 04:23 PM 8/15/2007, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>> More importantly, if the war is just, then the US (which can afford 
>> it) should be paying the price to wage it.  But if it's not, then we 
>> shouldn't be paying for at all.
> 
> Actually, the US can't even remotely afford either the actual financial 
> cost of the war or the slightly less tangible costs: an increase in 
> terrorism, reduced credibility in the world, etc.  It just THINKS it can 
> afford it.  And so, apparently, do you.
> 
> Moral arguments alone, it seems to me, have little power to influence 
> events.  Wars are begun and ended for reasons that have very little to 
> do with moral considerations.

This discussion doesn't make sense to me yet. As far as I can tell, the 
war is unjust *and* we can't afford it. And the fact that we can't 
afford it is unjust, because the people who are ultimately going to pay 
for it aren't the people who are responsible for it.

The "this war is expensive" argument might convince some war supporters 
to pull the plug on this one, but that's not a compelling reason for me 
to use the argument, since I want to change their minds so they can help 
us stop the next war and all the wars after that.

In a larger sense I hope many of us can agree that we can't create 
democracy at gunpoint (it's working no better in Iraq than it did in 
Vietnam), and that the only moral and practical alternative if we want 
democracy and human rights in the world is for the US to serve as an 
example. It's morally correct, practical, and a lot cheaper than cruise 
missiles.

-- 
Joe Futrelle
Person