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September 19, 2003

Kosovo v. Iraq

The Difference Between Liberation and Profiteering

I supported US-NATO intervention in Kosovo and opposed US unilateral occupation of Iraq. And there is no contradiction, since both the method and motives were so different.

As the cheers Clinton is receiving in Kosovo during his visit show, they applaud not only the removal of Milosevic but the followup. And in both intervention and its aftermath, the Kosovo intervention was carefully coordinated with global partners. A Russian veto prevented actual UN endorsement, but there was an almost universal "coalition of the willing" globally for preventing ethnic clensing in Kosovo.

There could have been similar support for removing Hussein, but Bush didn't want a multilateral intervention, since that wouldn't have allowed no-bid contracts for buddies at Halliburton or a chance to strut unlilateral US power.

So the boos for US policy, even by those who are glad to see Hussein gone, are hardly unexpected.

Cheers versus bombs against the US-- that is a pretty clear sign of the difference in the legitimacy of the Kosovo versus Iraqi interventions.

Posted by Nathan at September 19, 2003 09:59 AM