John Robb tries to think through why people may oppose a war. He lists some:
- Opposition to all war.
- Frustration with the US, as the sole superpower in the world, exercising its military power without considering the desires of the rest of the world. This is tied to the hope, that global activism in combination with strict fealty to the UN, can contain US power.
- Opposition to the US across the board (anti everything the US does).
- The US is the #1 source of global evil (this is a stronger version of the above).
- Belief that UN inspections and sanctions can work to prevent Iraq from ever becoming a threat -or- that Iraq has already been disarmed.
- Belief that war is more of a threat to the Iraqi people than living under Saddam for another couple of decades.
In fact neither of these reasons apply and at the same time all of these reasons (and some more) are applicable. That is the contradiction most people feel and potentially the reason why unfortunatly many Americans don’t understand why people call friendship with US while opposing the war.
I think what people really are opposing is the obvious ambition of the Bush administration towards a »pax americana« that is described in the National Security Strategy and which sketches layout of the political world solely determined by national interests of the USA. I found this brilliant article from Jay Bookman that is a good introduction to the subject.
Everyone can draw own conclusions. I have drawn mine and I think USA should not implement this strategy. It is overestimating todays effectivness of military force for long term goals and underestimating the possible counter reactions. It is also ignoring the social, cultural and religious issues in favour for political and economical advantages that will be benefitial only for few. It will just escalate the current situation and we are seeing the first signs for this already.
