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After all, to expect everyone to want to be liberated is akin to my old headmaster declaring to the year 10's before the assembled school "you will do sport, and you WILL enjoy it".
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As far as I'm concerned, the only people in any non-free land who do not want to see liberation are those who benefit from the lack of freedom, from the dictator above down to the rank-and-file members of his "in crowd," be they Saddam's Baathists or another incarnation of the same.
It isn't the same as "you will do sport, and you WILL enjoy it." It is more accurately, "you will do as you please and determine your own way, and you likely will enjoy it."
I think people want to be free, and if that is a cultural hegemon my nation is guilty of forcing on the world, I am happy to let my nation force it. Our founding fathers believed in it, Roosevelt believed in it as did Churchill, Reagan believed in it, and GWB believes in it. So do I.
Of course many Iraqis will resent occupation -- anyone does. This is axiomatic to the above-stated presumption. However, so long as they are willing to do so peacably, they NOW have every right to protest all they like and speak out all they like. Imagine how new that is to them. And, if they will cut us some slack and quit attacking long enough, we will have a lot of things rebuilt for them, and then we will get the hell out of their way and let them go back to making oodles of money off their massive oil reserves (which we have kept our hands off of, by and large, I am glad to note).
[ 06-09-2004, 12:22 PM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]