A circular argument for continuing the war
Letter writer George I. Geikas ("Don't criminalize political missteps," Jan. 9) uses some highly questionable logic to justify continuation of the Iraq war. He says, "(Rocky columnist Paul Campos) is in no position to predict what the outcome (of the war) will be . . . Such conclusions (that the war was a mistake) are a long way down the road."
In his circular reasoning, Geikas uses the continuation of the war to justify the continuation of the war.
Suppose his friend had a gambling addiction, and he suggested to his friend that he stop gambling. His friend refuses, saying, "Since I am going to continue gambling, you don't know what the outcome will be, so your position has no merit." Would Geikas be persuaded by this argument? There may be reasons to continue the war, but an unknown outcome - because the war is being continued - isn't one of them.
He ends with this comment: "I am incensed that there are so many people . . . who pretend they were innocent bystanders when this decision was proposed. If one disagreed, the time to protest is long gone." Did George Bush merely propose going to war? Isn't he, in his own words, "the decider"? I was one of the many who did disagree; Bush ignored us all.
Bill Jevons
Boulder
Strange, I seem to reacall a bipartisan majority of Congress voting to start the war. Oh yeah, they were lied to about those satellite photos of boxes in the desert. Can the Democrats really say that a trailer in the desert is convincing enough proof that they accepted it as evidence and didn't need any more intelligence to vote for the war? What a crock. It still shocks me that people really believe there is some sort of significant difference between the Republicans and the Democrats other than their stances on abortion, the death penalty, and gun control. The government is going to continue leading us into quagmires as long as old, rich, white Republocrats hold the power. I would love to see a politician that represents me, and not a tiny minority of Americans.
Posted by Geoff on January 23, 2007 04:51 PM