Would you support the war if YOUR family lived there?

[kourama]

War on television in some far off place doesn't feel very real. It's a lot easier to support the war when people you don't know in a place that you'll never visit are dying.

So, to the supporters of this war, I pose this question: If your mother, father, brother or sister lived in Bagdad, would you be still be pro war?

Let's try to avoid dodging the question with something like these responses:

"Do you want to keep your family safe from terrorism?"
"Why not move to Iraq and decide if you want to stay!"

Neither of these answer the question.

So just take a moment and think about people you care about, and try to answer this one.

[Supercharts]

You must have missed the interview with the Iraqi-American Marine who acted as an interpreter. Or the jubilation in Dearborn, Mich.

[jimmygun]

My family and I live in Canada. If the country were taken over by a military dictator that murdered and stole for their own gain then I would welcome the US coming in a blasting its ass. I would take the chance on my being killed. If it were possible to relocate my family to a safer place in the country I would do it.

Ask the people of the Netherlands if they welcomed the Canadian army which liberated them from Nazi oppression. Or the ungrateful French if they would have rather stayed Nazi occupied.

Ask yourself if your family was living in Bagdad would you like to see Saddam and his secret police come and get them in the night and take them to prison for torture and murder.

If my mother, father, or brother lived in Iraq I would be more in favour of the war if that is possible. Speak to people that escaped the regime in 1990 and still have family in Iraq. They will tell you of the worries they have for their families. Not from the US and UK but from Saddam.

[Skeptical Greg]

Well, the war (in iraq) is just about over, but I would support our actions there, if I had family or friends there.


Supporting the need for a particular war ( in this case, military action, to remove a repressive and dangerous to our
interests) regime does not = a support for war.

[aerocontrols]

Yes I would.

No doubt about it.

[Ladyhawk]

Absolutely, I'd support it! I know people here who have family in Iraq who not only are grateful for U.S. intervention, but I talked to one Iraqi gentleman who actually said to me:

"If I were Presdent Bush, I'd tell all of those countries who are trying to hurt us that they'll be next! We'll bomb you all!"....

Ok, needless to say, I'm nowhere near that extreme. But, he went on to tell me that "...you have no idea the suffering we were forced to endure. The TV only tells part of it".

And, I can attest from living in Dearborn, Michigan's back yard that the parties are STILL going on....

;)

[Michael Redman]

If my family lived under Saddam, I would support the war, no matter how much damage it did to US foreign policy, or world stability. I might even have volunteered myself.

[BobK]

I do and would.

The anti-war crowd seems to be avoiding this thread.

I guess they can't come up with a cogent reason to leave Saddam's boot on their relations necks.

:)

[dsm]

Originally posted by kourama

So just take a moment and think about people you care about, and try to answer this one.


You're dodging the real question by creating a false dilemma. Perhaps the family members believe in the "give me liberty or give me death" principle. :rolleyes:

[Mel]

Originally posted by jimmygun
My family and I live in Canada. If the country were taken over by a military dictator that murdered and stole for their own gain then I would welcome the US coming in a blasting its ass. I would take the chance on my being killed. If it were possible to relocate my family to a safer place in the country I would do it.

Ask the people of the Netherlands if they welcomed the Canadian army which liberated them from Nazi oppression. Or the ungrateful French if they would have rather stayed Nazi occupied.

Ask yourself if your family was living in Bagdad would you like to see Saddam and his secret police come and get them in the night and take them to prison for torture and murder.

If my mother, father, or brother lived in Iraq I would be more in favour of the war if that is possible. Speak to people that escaped the regime in 1990 and still have family in Iraq. They will tell you of the worries they have for their families. Not from the US and UK but from Saddam.

What a fantastic post!



There are few things more sobering than to hear newly freed people (in Iraq as well as throughtout hiistory) ask their saviors, "What took you so long?"

I'd have to say, I would also welcome outside intervention if it meant I at least had a chance to enjoy life.

[Dancing David]

I can't really say, my opposition to the war is based on the tin-pot dictator thing. (IE Why this tin pot dictator? There are so many to chose from, so many are our county's friends) That and the idea this war is over oil not the freedom thing, my opposition to the war is based upon my being who I am here in America.

Lets see:
If the USA sets up some fascist like the Shah of Iran after the war then I would oppose it, after the fact.
If my legs were blown off by a bomb I would oppose it.

I have to say however that if the fascist dictatorship was replaced by a free government I would most likely support the war after the water came back, the electricity and hospitals were working and I got my house rebuilt.

This is a fantastic question, but again my opposition to the war is based upon me being American.
And I believe I can support the troops and not believe this is a 'just' war.

Peace
dancing David

[Bluegill]

It's a thought-provoking question for me, but I'm not sure it provoked the response you would have suspected, Kourama.

I've been pretty ambivalent about the war, but decided about a couple months ago that I supported it. I decided that my main opposition was not to the war itself, but that we were doing it with so few countries on our side. My main worries were what it was doing, PR-wise, to our larger cause. If even more countries had been vocal, active participants, it would have been harder for me to think of things to list in the "con" category.

Now that you know where I'm coming from, if I had close friends or relatives living in Baghdad, I think I'd have been much more supportive of the war right of the bat. The risks of the war seem to me to be much less than the risks and oppression of spending more time living under Saddam's regime.

[Victor Danilchenko]

I am anti-war. that said, if I had friends or relatives living in baghdad, I would support the war probably -- in the same way I might support the killing of my son's murderer, regardless of the due process or my philosophical opposition to capital punishment...

[kourama]

It's a thought-provoking question for me, but I'm not sure it provoked the response you would have suspected, Kourama.


I was anticipating some pro-war rhetoric, which is why I tried to head it off at the pass in the first post.

The reason I asked, is becuase I wasn't sure of the answer myself, and I wanted to provoke thought.

You're dodging the real question by creating a false dilemma. Perhaps the family members believe in the "give me liberty or give me death" principle.

I am? What's the real question?

There are people here in Canada who support the war becuase they're afraid of a U.S. economic-backlash. I think these people need to consider more than wether or not they'll lose some business.

[dsm]

Originally posted by kourama

I am? What's the real question?


American history ("give me liberty or give me death") should tell you that some things are worth fighting for regardless of the consequences. You just have to decide what to you those things are.

[kourama]

Originally posted by dsm


American history ("give me liberty or give me death") should tell you that some things are worth fighting for regardless of the consequences. You just have to decide what to you those things are.

mmmm. I don't agree that some things are worth fighting for regardless of the consequences. The consequences should always be considered. For example, is world peace worth the extermination of humans? Is the consequence of invading Iraq going to be an increase in terrorism, which will lead to restriction of liberties in the U.S. to prevent it?

Yes, the Iraqi people should decide for themselves if their liberty is worth enduring this war, but that's not what I was getting at. Is supporting this war as easy for people over here if something as important as their own family is at risk? So far the answer seems to be an emphatic "yes".

I, personally, have difficulty with that question.

[knusper]

Time and Iraqis will tell if it was worth it. Personally, I only know one Iraqi family in exile. They definitely don't support any US intervention in Iraq. My friend’s brother has a lot of Iraqi friends too. None of them support this war. These people still worry about their relatives and are quite unhappy about the American troops being there. Needless to say, they all hate Saddam. Everyone does. They just don't trust Americans, a distrust based on history.

These are few people and neither them nor I can speak for Iraqis in general. A couple of hundred people celebrate; well, they don't speak for Iraqis in general either.

When Iraq is truly free, we might be able to tell what they think. The answer depends on what happens next. I don't think this war is worth it yet, one day it might turn out to be.

Me, if it was my country in a related imaginary scenario, I don’t know. It can't be answered. It is a question of how many wasted lives will be worth it and how much better life will be how much soon. Who can be the judge of that? I wouldn't want to. Freedom of speech is not all, food, water and physical safety is freedom too. The people of Bagdad were safer than now a month ago, but now they can speak politics and have more of both hope and worries. My yes/no would also depend on my level of trust for the invading/liberating forces.

So, if my family lived in Bagdad today, I don't know. To dodge the question a bit, it would depend pretty much on my family’s view on it. A war would turn their lives upside down for a long time with no direct promises of a decent future. Everyone there wanted a regime change, but they had a different degree of desperation for it. And differing trust in the US. Since the Iraqi friends of the people I know don't support the war, I have trouble imagining my imaginary family supporting the war. But if they said they wanted it, sure, I'd support it. You can’t do a scientific poll in Iraq yet, however. Again, time and Iraqis will tell.

[Skeptic]

Are you kidding? With the choice of my family a). continuing to live under Saddam Hussein indefinitely, or b). taking the risk of less-than-1-in-5,000 risk of getting injured in a two-week war that frees them?

I'd support the war in an instant.

You don't need to ask me, though: ask the tens of thousands of Iraqis living in the USA that DO have families there. They support the war almost to a man, as far as I know.

[knusper]

I have a different personal experience of the opinions of Iraqis in exile since the ones I and my friends have met oppose the war. I know that others support it, I have seen them on TV.