But wouldn’t the same hold true of any operation that Airman might be involved in? Unless he were flying the skies immediately over your house, you could always say that he’d be safer not being involved in one operation or another.
Why get involved in someplace like Bosnia? Why send troops to Haiti? Why not bring all our forces home from Europe? None of those places involve a “real” threat to our lives here in the US.
For that matter, why join the Air Force?
I realize I’m being entirely irrational about this. I know that the chances of Airman’s actually getting killed are slim and none. His unit hasn’t had a serious accident in I don’t know how long, and his plane is kept reasonably safe from attack.
However, I don’t see this as being a necessary operation. I think that Bush’s reasons for getting us involved in Iraq are specious at best, and outright fiction at worst. Okay, fine, so Saddam’s a lunatic who may or may not have NBC capability. Iraq may or may not have links to Al-Qaeda. Nothing I’ve seen so far proves either of those. So far, the UN weapons inspectors have found nothing, and I have yet to see any definitive evidence that Iraq has links to Al-Qaeda. I don’t care about any other hotspots; if any more come up, I’ll deal with those if or when Airman is sent over.
Robin
Ten years? I do it now!
I can’t imagine the pride of the parents of my generation. Just think, all this time they were raising Iraq fodder! It’s almost as noble as being Vietnam fodder!
SpazCat, who is currently blessing her autoimmunity for giving her an out to any possibility of serving
SGT. HULKA: Son, there ain’t no draft no more.
The Ba’th regime of Iraq certainly needs to go, of that there is no doubt. For close to forty years they have based a regime on fear and terror, nothing else – not shared ideals, not common beliefs, but simple fear. The people of Iraq have been cowed into following a dictator who they certainly do not want, propaganda exported westward to the contrary.
During the al-Anfal (spoils) operations in the north, just before the Gulf War began and before the Iran-Iraq War ended, Iraqi regular army forces launched a campaign of depopulation that killed at least 100,000 Kurds – if not more – in the countryside, oftentimes using chemical weapons or outright gunshots. This isn’t speculation. This is proven fact, brought out of the country in the aftermath of the destruction. During the Shi’a uprising in the south during the post-Gulf War years, when America kow-towed to the tyrants in Riyadh and refused to march on Baghdad, Saddam’s units again spread much destruction, including destroying some of the holiest shrines of Shi’ism in Kufa and elsewhere.
This is my justification for a war in Iraq, which is probably the most dangerous regime in the Middle East next to our supposed allies Saudi Arabia. The Saud family would do the world a big favor by dropping dead, but I digress. Bush does this country no favors by pursuing a hardline against Iraq and calling for “negotiation” with North Korea, pacifist government or not in Seoul; all those countries who oppress, who threaten, who frighten need to know that their turn on the chopping block, their stand on the gallows, is only a boulder toss away.
All of them? 
In theory, yes; in practice, unfortunately no. I’m an old fashioned Wilsonian believer in world democracy = peace. 
So why and since when are we the world’s police? If we go in and overthrow every government we don’t agree with then what makes us any better? How do we decide when someone ‘has to go’? When does it stop? Who watches the watchmen?
See, the United States opresses the peoples of other countries by exerting its economic might. We threaten other countries, as can currently be seen with Iraq. And we’re frightening much of the world. By those criteria, we should be up for the chop any time now…
You want an answer? As this NYT column points out (registration required), we are the new world empire; as such, we have a responsibility to maintain order in the world; and we shouldn’t be shy about shaping that order in our own image.
A few interesting excerpts:
BTW, I just set up a GD thread on this column.