Bob v. Bill Press on: Bush Must Go

[Jefferson]

Bob v. Bill Press on: Bush Must Go

Tuesday June 22nd, 2004. This is show #124.

 

[Wamba]

That was a great show. Bill Press wouldn't shut up sometimes though. I thought it was good overal.

 

[Jefferson]

BEST QUOTE OF THE SHOW:

Bill Press: We grossly, grossly underestimated the number of troops that would be needed and the difficulty of . . .

Bob Enyart: I agree and the reason I think is that we did not and we still don't comprehend the ramifications of precision-guided missles. We didn't realize that when you don't inflict punishment on a population then the insurgents and the leftovers will continue to make it miserable for you.

Do you think the Germans loved us when we defeated Hitler? Do you think the Japanese were thrilled that the Americans were in Tokyo? If their populations didn't suffer the way they did, we would have had the same exact aftermath in Japan and Germany.

 

[Flipper]

So, if I understand this argument correctly (and it may be that this is not what is intended), the best way to rid the world of a tyrant and put an end to gross human rights violation is to carpet bomb his population into submission.

Well, I expect that Bob meant this more as an observation than a policy decision, but I've heard him make this argument a couple of times before. And it certainly seems like he wishes we'd been quite a lot less precise.

Of course, such arguments are arguably spurious anyway. A disparate terrorist movement isn't the same as a nation state. Our problem isn't really with Iraq, it's with large chunks of the Mid East. I wonder what would happen if we chose instead to threaten Mecca with annihilation should something bad again happen? Nothing good, I expect.