> Hi Derrel.
> Tony Blair is a good man. He seems to be motivated by principle, in
> contrast
> with George W. Bush who is merely opportunistic.
Distance always lends a certain charm that disappears on closer examination.
;)Believe me neither Blair's career nor his recent sequence of
justifications for war lead me to think of principle.
On a positive note, I have just come back from a demonstration / strike of
about 1000 against the war predominantly made up of school students, some of
whom looked as if they had barely reached the age for Vygotskyan scientific
concepts yet! They marched around central Manchester, blocking traffic by
sitting in the road, and those interviewed for TV seemed very
self-confident, clear about what they were doing and why and determined.
There was predictable complaints from police and some head teachers about
the local anti-war organisation playing a 'pied piper' role but the march
was organised by the students themselves.
Bruce R (in the UK)
Likely some good will come
> from the removal of Saddam from power over Iraq. But don't be misled into
> thinking that this good is the motivation for this campaign. Restoring
Iraq
> is an after-thought--an unanticipated cost that Bush finds himself needing
> to pay in the absence of other forms of legitimation. On balance, it's
hard
> to take much solace in these peripheral positive accompaniements of the
> destruction of a cooperative world order.
> David Kirshner
>
> ___________________________________________
> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> cc:
> bcc: David H Kirshner/dkirsh/LSU
> Subject: Re: An Open Letter to George W. Bush
> Derrel Fincher <Derrel@Fincher.com>
>
> 03/19/2003 11:44 AM ZE9
> Please respond to xmca <font size=-1></font>
>
>
> The excerpt below is from Tony Blair's speech
> (http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page3295.asp).
>
> Derrel
>
> >I recall a few weeks ago talking to an Iraqi exile and saying to her that
> >I understood how grim it must be under the lash of Saddam.
> >
> >"But you don't", she replied. "You cannot. You do not know what it is
like
> >to live in perpetual fear." And she is right. We take our freedom for
> >granted. But imagine not to be able to speak or discuss or debate or even
> >question the society you live in. To see friends and family taken away
and
> >never daring to complain. To suffer the humility of failing courage in
> >face of pitiless terror. That is how the Iraqi people live. Leave Saddam
> >in place and that is how they will continue to live.
> >
> >We must face the consequences of the actions we advocate. For me, that
> >means all the dangers of war. But for others, opposed to this course, it
> >means - let us be clear - that the Iraqi people, whose only true hope of
> >liberation lies in the removal of Saddam, for them, the darkness will
> >close back over them again; and he will be free to take his revenge upon
> >those he must know wish him gone.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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