tac@teldata.UUCP () (05/31/84)
, (sop to the blank line eaters--consider it a religious sacrifice)
When you have two belligerents of the class of Iraq and Iran there
are three things you can do:
1) Get involved on one side or the other. This can lead to another
Viet Nam type situation, or global escallation as in WWI & II.
2) Take on both sides at once. This leads to various posibilities:
i) another power who wants the war to go on gets involved
(e.g. the USSR) and we now have a major war.
ii) they both decide to fight you instead of each other (which
makes you unpopular throughout the world).
iii) you mop up quickly and now find yourself running a police
state in the name of peace.
3) Leave them alone. This is the course that I favor. Iraq will soon
run out of ammunition and equipment, while Iran will soon run out
of grade schools to get front line cannon fodder from. Consider it
evolution in action (obviously not an original idea). Clear out all
innocent bystanders, and let them duke it out. Anyone left in the
way is not an innocent bystander--they are either out to make a
wartime profit (in which case they deserve what they get) or they
live there (in which case they deserve the government which got
them this war).
The subject header refers not to all being fair in love and war, but to
the Laissez Faire attitude I propose.
From the (far from the front lines) Soapbox of
Tom Condon {...!uw-beaver!teltone!teldata!tac}
A Radical A Day Keeps The Government At Bay.
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed herein are those of everyone who
matters, but not necessarily anyone you know, and most certainly not
my employers!fish@ihu1g.UUCP (Bob Fishell) (06/06/84)
(oo)
I recall somebody prominent, a newscaster, I believe, stating the worst
thing about the Iran/Iraq war was that one of them had to win.
The U.S. should not get involved militarily, but something needs to be
done to protect the oil tankers. Today's _Chicago Tribune_ headlined
that the Saudis were getting into the shooting. Maybe the answer is
to funnel more weapons to them. Perhaps the US has no business whatever
getting involved in that conflict, but it's easy to argue politics and
morality when the gas tank's full.
--
Bob Fishell
ihnp4!ihu1g!fish