[Dean's World] Dave Price: Norm Geras On Illiberal Liberals

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Posted by Dave Price:
Norm Geras On Illiberal Liberals
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1142455177.shtml


   A couple of posts from Norm Geras that are well worth reading, [1]one
   a letter about an Iraqi woman receiving an award from an employer
   after suffering under Saddam:

     Imagine - a regime where people's ears can be cut off for not
     following orders. My point is if 'liberals' want to defend the
     status quo ante in Iraq, just what are they defending?

   and the [2]other a thorough examination of Madeleine Bunting's
   [3]anti-war column calling for war proponents to apologize:

     Are there then, finally, things we should be sorry about, all of us
     who supported the war and especially on humanitarian grounds? Of
     course there are. How could there not be, with the daily suffering
     and the mounting death toll in Iraq? In supporting the war this is
     obviously not the outcome we either hoped for or thought likely -
     though Bunting-style allegations that all of us just foresaw a
     speedy and trouble-free transition to democracy are not true.
     Still, we did envisage something significantly better than the
     situation that obtained under Saddam Hussein.

   Unfortunately, the answer from those opposing the war is generally
   disingenuous moral equivalencies meant to prove the war accomplished
   nothing worthwhile: Saddam killed, the occupiers kill. Saddam
   tortured, the occupiers torture. Many died under Saddam's rule, many
   are dying now.
   One argument they don't seem to have an answer for (beyond simple
   counterfactual denials) is that Iraq now has a measure of free press,
   free elections, freedom of assembly, and freedom of speech almost
   totally lacking under Saddam. For true liberals, the need to fight to
   preserve those things from those trying to deny them to Iraqis should
   be self-evident, requiring neither justification nor apology. The fact
   we even have to make the argument to those that lay claim to the
   appellation once synonymous with loving freedom is disheartening; the
   fact they don't accept the argument yet still claim to be liberals is
   dismaying.

References

   1. http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2006/03/from_iraq_to_ma.html
   2. http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2006/03/no_word.html
   3. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1729394,00.html