Quote:
|
Originally Posted by irateplatypus
what gets me is that some posters have such venom for even the appearance of impropriety concerning GE and Haliburton (which is, i think, well placed if the charges are true)... but play it low when foreign countries are caught in the same boat. if one instance is bad... surely an equivalent one should be condemned just as harshly. it's intellectually dishonest to condemn one, yet give another a pass on the grounds that it is just like the first.
a clear double standard.
|
Well, for starters, I do have a double-standard when it comes to America. I hold my country to a higher standard, to be sure. That said, I don't think I've seen anyone coming out saying that it was all good for these arms shipments to take place. Truth be told, American companies are unfortunately also very active in the 'grey-market' arms trade.
On the double-standard issue though, I don't think it goes very far. Many of these same folks who condemn the dastardly foreigners for supplying our enemies hold guys like Ollie North in the highest of esteem, practically lionized for his role in Iran-Contra (or did we forget about that one).
Illegal arms trade is a reality that derives from a nation-state system in which violence is accepted as a means of dispute-resolution, and in which force still ultimately determines the course of events (current reality...not inevitable reality). To be sure, all arms-producers use arms shipments, legal, quasi-legal, or illegal, as an extension of foreign policy. Until this international regime is altered, we can't expect such events to stop.
This is not a condonement of such transfers. I want them stopped, whether from America, France, Russia, N.Korea, or a Falujah workshop. But I do hold America to the highest standard of all, for two reasons. One, she's my country, I'm damn proud of her, and I want her to be a leader in the movement. Two, I actually have some ability to affect her behavior through participation in the political process.
French and other arms being sold to Iraq was unfortunate, and I don't want those who authorized such shipments to sleep well. The gun trade to Africa is just as unfortunate. The unwillingness of the current Administration to take a lead in halting such unnecessary transfers is unacceptable. To not participate in Small Arms and Land Mines limiting protocals, under the idea that it is not fair to cut American firms out of the profits of these trades, is unfathomable.
America is right to complain about the foreign suppliers of Sadaam's 1990's military. But if she really wants to have an effect on the arms trade, and not just a good cry, then she needs to lead by example!