I totally think the war in Iraq is a bad idea. The main reason is I believe a pre-emptive strike is never justifiable. If one nation can do a pre-emptive strike, then another nation could invade an innocent country and call it 'pre-emptive'.
I pulled up an old civ3 game from last fall and started playing it again for the first time since then. I always try to be the good guy in civ games, and I don't do anything wrong. No wars of aggression. I looked back at a war I had won when I was playing the game before. The Romans, who were bigger and better, were blocking my expansion. It was the early medieval age and I was a tech or two ahead of the romans. As soon as I researched the right technology, I upgraded a ton of horsemen into knights in one turn and then invaded. They only had spearman and I crushed Rome, the greatest nation at the time. I felt guilty about it, but then I told myself, "It was a pre-emptive strike. He was going to invade you and other smaller countries, and you got him to stop a whole lot of suffering."
When I recently pulled up the game, I remembered the ordeal. It was just as I had thought. A country could invade another country and justify it by calling it pre-emptive. That is the exact reason I am opposed to the war in Iraq. It was a great parallel between the real world and the one I spend a lot of time in.
I pulled up an old civ3 game from last fall and started playing it again for the first time since then. I always try to be the good guy in civ games, and I don't do anything wrong. No wars of aggression. I looked back at a war I had won when I was playing the game before. The Romans, who were bigger and better, were blocking my expansion. It was the early medieval age and I was a tech or two ahead of the romans. As soon as I researched the right technology, I upgraded a ton of horsemen into knights in one turn and then invaded. They only had spearman and I crushed Rome, the greatest nation at the time. I felt guilty about it, but then I told myself, "It was a pre-emptive strike. He was going to invade you and other smaller countries, and you got him to stop a whole lot of suffering."
When I recently pulled up the game, I remembered the ordeal. It was just as I had thought. A country could invade another country and justify it by calling it pre-emptive. That is the exact reason I am opposed to the war in Iraq. It was a great parallel between the real world and the one I spend a lot of time in.
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