Cartoon time (thought provoking, not funny)

[aldona]

Now that more inconsistencies are beginning to appear in the account of the London incident where the "suspected terrorist" was shot by police and turned out to be an innocent man...

...our local newspaper's cartoonist has come up with the following.

[] [/]

[Jeannieb43]

"As we reap what we have sown

Since Saddam was overthrown."

How true.

[Ron Lambert]

Jeannie, do you mean to suggest that the people of Iraq, or the people of Britain, or the people of America, or anyone in the world, would be better off if Saddam Hussein had not been overthrown? Take a close look at all that he did when he had power, and see if that was not an evil worth removing from the earth at any cost. Or do you deny that his regime was really evil?

[Dr. Shane]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

has the price been worth it?

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

We don't have the answer to that and we won't for some time. If Iraq becomes a free society and freedom wins, it will have been worth the effort. A free Iraq that is willing and able to defend itself AND is allied with the free world against terrorism is what will make the whole effort worth while. However that is yet to be seen. If Iraqis are not willing or able to provide for their own security the whole effort may turn out to be in vain.

[Neil D]

Quote:

---

Ron Lambert said:

Jeannie, do you mean to suggest that the people of Iraq, or the people of Britain, or the people of America, or anyone in the world, would be better off if Saddam Hussein had not been overthrown? Take a close look at all that he did when he had power, and see if that was not an evil worth removing from the earth at any cost. Or do you deny that his regime was really evil?

---

Are you saying, Ron, that America needs to be the policeman of the world? In all practicality, to attempt to be the world's policeman is to ruin the budget of the American people.

And at what point are you saying that Saddam WAS NOT contained? Post Bush the first, Saddam WAS contained in his own little dictatorship. There was NO URGENCY to go into Iraq and remove him. There could have been different ways to overthrow Iraq without the use of the American Military.

The policy, Ron, that you have implied here, is that America needs to go thruout the world and remove dictatorships that are a threat to world security and to spread a cultural democracy thruout the world. This policy is untennable on many fronts. As mentioned, the budget of America can not handle the cost for such an undertaking. Second, the American people will not send thier boys and girls out to die for another country that is unwilling to adopt the american democratic system and culture.

A current threat is Korea and Iran. Both of these cultures are based upon the idea of being against the US. The US is a "bad guy" in thier eyes. What can be done to change this view? Currently, there is no education, nor is there a policy that is developed to change these attitudes and arrest the development of nuclear weapons.

In my view, there needs to be a massive education campaign and generous relief in these countrys to change the attitudes of these countrys in addition to some african nations, ie Somolia and surrounding cultures. There also needs to be some development going on to increase the oppertunities of the people, ie pottable drinking water and then educate the people on those possiblities.

[Dr. Shane]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

Saddam WAS contained in his own little dictatorship.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

Let's not forget Saddam was bribing UN Security Council members to get sanctions lifted so he could resume his WMDs programs. So if containment allows for such things I guess it can be argued that he was contained.

[Neil D]

Quote:

---

Let's not forget Saddam was bribing UN Security Council members to get sanctions lifted so he could resume his WMDs programs. So if containment allows for such things I guess it can be argued that he was contained.

---

Which means that there were other oppertunities available to the US and it's Allies to bring about change. While it is granted that deplomacy was probably failing, there were more subversive ways to initiate that change that were not implimented.

Instead, the US flexed it's military might. Can we all say it together...This was STUUUUUUpid...a lack of creativity on the goverment's part. We have spend America's economy, reputation, and good will on this effort.

[Ron Lambert]

Neil, I believe that God ignores our fiction of nationhood, and holds us responsible for each other. Any evil that afflicts anyone on earth, that we have the power to prevent or stop, He will hold us accountable for, if we turn our backs on our brothers and sisters and allow it to go on happening. He does not respect our vain attempt to hide behind the human fiction of nationhood, as if that could avert our moral responsibility to our fellow man.

You think it is evil to set ourselves up as world policeman? Why exactly do you imagine that to be evil instead of good? Because we can't afford it? Is money your excuse? If the majority of the human race, at least all those who are civilized, decided not to tolerate the evil of despots any longer, it would vanish from the earth, and we could afford it. The real question is, how could anyone think we can afford not to stop evil whenever we have the ability to do so?

Even if we as a nation find we must act virtually alone, at least let us do what we can do.

Get this straight: What happens to the people of Iraq is just important as what happens to the people of Iowa. That is how God sees it, and so should we.

[Dr. Shane]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

You think it is evil to set ourselves up as world policeman? Why exactly do you imagine that to be evil instead of good?

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

This tends to scare Adventists because we see it as a step toward the fulfillment of prophecy. I don't see why it scares others. America has the strongest military in the world, brave soldiers and is a force for good (at least for now).