I decided to move some discussion from this post up to the top level here. Specifically, Watoosh wrote: "Well, if violence is defined as initiation of force (which, of course, presupposes certain property rights), then I think Rockwell is correct..." Well, if we define cats as elephants, then many people keep elephants in their house. More seriously, firstly, violence is not usually defined that way. It's defined as, you know, violence, so that, say, someone may respond violently or non-violently to someone who aggresses against them. Otherwise, it would make no sense to say, for instance, "He punched me, but I did not stoop to violence in response." And, secondly, the libertarian usage of "initiation of force" is very offbeat. If I wander onto someone's meadow, most people would not say I had "initiated force" -- I mean, sure, I used "force" against the earth to push off walking, but that's not force directed against...
I heard some reporter paraphrasing the Pentagon's objections to the withdrawal. He said there was an official reason and a true reason. He said (of course paraphrasing but I'm not making it sound harsher than it was)
ReplyDeleteOfficial reason: Iraqi forces right now have been trained as anti-insurgency; right now they don't have the ability to keep a foreign army from invading them.
Real reason: We want to keep US troops there to make sure Iraqi democracy stays on track, and doesn't stray into authoritarianism.
What's funny is, the NPR person interviewing the reporter didn't, say, spit out his water or guffaw. This was all taken in stride. The rest of the world should be honored to be bombed and occupied by US forces, so of our expectionalism might rub off on the rubes.
Whoa that didn't come out right. Last phrase should be, "...so some of our exceptionalism might rub off on the rubes."
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