My Comment

I found this post from someone calling themselves Sidespot. My reply was too long for the comments box so I've put it here;


"Your comment 'I remain very conflicted by the use of weapons to solve problems' resonates quite strongly with me; I'm a Christian who is a reservist in the British Army and I've spent 6 months in Basra. I'm sceptical about many aspects of the 'Christian Right' movement but your blog is well thought out and makes some good points. However, I'd like to pick-up on a few points. In your third paragraph you appear to associate 9/11 with Iraq. There was never any evidence of a link. In fact many things would point away from it; Bin Laden actually offered to fight against Iraq during the first Gulf War don't forget. He would be much more likely to try and get WMD via Pakistan or former Soviet states. You point to the human suffering in Iraq before the war. Terrible though those things were if it was a matter of using coalition resources to alleviate death and suffering those resources would be much more effectively spent in Sudan, Somalia, Zimbabwe or many other places. Also the west (not just America) could look at the behaviour of it's friends. For example Saudi Arabia and Pakistan; no one really knows what is going on there. Don't forget that a lot of the atrocities committed in Iraq happened when America was giving support during the Iran war. Also, you appear to think that those who opposed the war in Iraq also opposed the war Afghanistan. For most that isn't true. For example both France and Germany have readily deployed troops in Afghanistan. And finally (sorry!) you talk about the large coalition backing the action. It's true that a few national leaders backed America but generally their people were against. I was in Spain and Italy whilst the fighting was taking place, and believe me the people WERE NOT in favor in those countries! Don't forget it's one of the main reasons Jose Ansar is not in power any more. Even in Britain the only time when the people showed anything near majority support was when the government, with most of the media going along with it, were telling untruths about WMD in Iraq.
Anyway, sorry to pick holes, I'm glad I found your blog :)"