4 ms·

> unilateral military invasion of peaceful nations is "evil" America invaded Iraq and Afghanistan on flimsy pretexts and then continued to occupy the latter fo

> unilateral military invasion of peaceful nations is "evil" America invaded Iraq and Afghanistan on flimsy pretexts and then continued to occupy the latter for what, 20 years? Why wasn’t there similar international pushback against that?

ajross 5y ago
Maybe that was evil too? I mean, there's complication. But "because America did it" is not a moral argument, and the contention was something about "evil".
torstenvl 5y ago
> peaceful nations Afghanistan was harboring al Qaeda and Iraq was threatening use of WMDs. They weren't peaceful nations. The latter turned out to be bluster, supported by terrible intelligence and a U.S. administration that didn't have the wherewithal to counteract its own confirmation biases, and that deserves its own appropriate condemnation, but it's nowhere near the same thing.
- MichaelZuo 5y ago
  Does anyone else notice that the above comment is greyed out but still showing up above two other comments ungreyed out? Maybe it’s just a glitch, first time I’ve seen it occur.
Larrikin 5y ago
What's the flimsy pretext for the US going into Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks?
- krapp 5y ago
  If the US were serious about going after the parties responsible, it would have invaded Saudi Arabia. Instead it made a token stab at Afghanistan then ginned up a war in Iraq they were intent on waging anyway.
ok_dad 5y ago
I will first say I don’t agree the USA should have invaded anyone. 1) America has Europe by the balls because we provide most of the major military security guarantees. 2) Iraq wasn’t exactly a peaceful nation (see: Kuwait) 3) Both Iraq and Afghanistan were governed by non democratic governments; a dictator in one and by religious zealots in the other 4) No one other than the local middle eastern Arabic countries were threatened by this action by the USA, and they didn’t have enough power to put pressure on the USA In Ukraine, Russia invaded a neighbor of NATO countries, Ukraine was actually a peaceful nation and has a democratically elected government, and the countries that don’t like Russia actually have the power to try to stop it and can get by without anything from Russia.
krapp 5y ago
There was a great deal of international pushback against both. There was also international support for both. The United States didn't unilaterally invade either country.

ajross 5y ago

Maybe that was evil too? I mean, there's complication. But "because America did it" is not a moral argument, and the contention was something about "evil".

torstenvl 5y ago

> peaceful nations Afghanistan was harboring al Qaeda and Iraq was threatening use of WMDs. They weren't peaceful nations. The latter turned out to be bluster, supported by terrible intelligence and a U.S. administration that didn't have the wherewithal to counteract its own confirmation biases, and that deserves its own appropriate condemnation, but it's nowhere near the same thing.

MichaelZuo 5y ago
Does anyone else notice that the above comment is greyed out but still showing up above two other comments ungreyed out? Maybe it’s just a glitch, first time I’ve seen it occur.

Larrikin 5y ago

What's the flimsy pretext for the US going into Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks?

krapp 5y ago
If the US were serious about going after the parties responsible, it would have invaded Saudi Arabia. Instead it made a token stab at Afghanistan then ginned up a war in Iraq they were intent on waging anyway.

ok_dad 5y ago

I will first say I don’t agree the USA should have invaded anyone. 1) America has Europe by the balls because we provide most of the major military security guarantees. 2) Iraq wasn’t exactly a peaceful nation (see: Kuwait) 3) Both Iraq and Afghanistan were governed by non democratic governments; a dictator in one and by religious zealots in the other 4) No one other than the local middle eastern Arabic countries were threatened by this action by the USA, and they didn’t have enough power to put pressure on the USA In Ukraine, Russia invaded a neighbor of NATO countries, Ukraine was actually a peaceful nation and has a democratically elected government, and the countries that don’t like Russia actually have the power to try to stop it and can get by without anything from Russia.

krapp 5y ago

There was a great deal of international pushback against both. There was also international support for both. The United States didn't unilaterally invade either country.