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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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 Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 6:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Now Saddam Hussein was at least 30% as bad as Pol Pot. So why is the US wrong for behaving like Vietnam did and invading Iraq for strategic reasons? |
OMG! Can I see a link to a reputable agency, breaking down how that figure came about? 
Can't we just agree, they both were horrible. Can't we just agree the U.S. was wrong in supporting (in any and all fashion, given the thorough intelligence known in both cases) both?
Can't we just agree it is about time that those on the march of freedom ..... stop supporting such repressive, evil regimes? (I have a list the length of my arm).
DD |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 6:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Wow, I cant believe you admitted Hussein and Pol Pot were evil. |
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gang ah jee
Joined: 14 Jan 2003
Location: city of paper
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| Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee wrote: |
Ok, I agree but Vietnam went into Cambodia for strategic reasons not humanitarian.
Now Saddam Hussein was at least 30% as bad as Pol Pot. So why is the US wrong for behaving like Vietnam did and invading Iraq for strategic reasons? |
It's interesting actually. I was talking to some Vietnamese friends about the intervention against the Khmer Rouge, and I compared it to the war in Iraq - of course, they got incredibly offended! In Vietnam it's understood as having been purely defensive and humanitarian, which is obviously not completely true.
But let's compare it to Iraq. Firstly, the Khmer Rouge had already invaded the Vietnamese territory of Phu Quoc and Tho Chu Islands and summarily executed hundreds of Vietnamese civilians. Secondly, Vietnam is right on the border with Cambodia, and was having to deal with the refugees first hand. And remember, this wasn't just killing and torturing political opponents, this was indiscriminate slaughter. The Vietnamese knew exactly what was happening in the country, and they were in a position to do something about it. While it's absolutely true that it was strategically beneficial for Vietnam to dispatch with one of its Maoist neighbours and to install a sympathetic government (though it also cost them a war with China), if Vietnam ever wants to argue humanitarian and defensive reasons for that war, it has, in my opinion, a much stronger case for doing so than the US does for Iraq. |
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ariellowen
Joined: 19 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:39 pm Post subject: |
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Pol Pot's idea was not original. For example I came across this last night, it's the opening quotation from Chapter 9 of Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies Vol.1,
'Everything has got to be smashed to start with.
Our whole damn civilization has got to go, before
we can bring any decency to the world.'
'Mourlan', in Du Gard's Les Thibaults.
It's a Catch-22, if you oppose infrastructure and "development" you're with Pol Pot, but if you support "development" you're with the Multi-nationals?
Last edited by ariellowen on Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:44 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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gang ah jee
Joined: 14 Jan 2003
Location: city of paper
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| Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:44 pm Post subject: |
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| ariellowen wrote: |
| Pol Pot's idea was not original. |
Right. It was a logical continuation of the Chinese cultural revolution in the years before. That's Maoism for you. |
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chris_J2
Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Location: From Brisbane, Au.
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| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 1:30 am Post subject: |
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| Didn't Pol Pot study in France? Perhaps he read the same article, & was influenced by KP accordingly? |
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