University Pays Off, For Once

An excerpt from a reading for my Cause of War class:

"However, by the time Athens decided to undertake the Sicilian Expedition, cost was no longer a major concern. The city was intent on embarking on this venture regadless of the enormous sacrifices needed in terms of resources... in the minds of the Athenians the quest for security clearly overwhelmed calculations of interest." [emphasis added]
-Chittick & Freyberg-Inan, "'Chiefly for fear, next for honour, and lastly for profit': an analysis of foreign policy motivation in the Peloponnesian War" Review of International Studies, Jan. 2001 p. 88

I've argued for a while now that Iraq looks more and more like the Sicilian Expedition everyday. Now, despite the fact that this was written before 9/11 or Iraq, I think this is the perfect explanation for the "real" reason the US went to war (with more-or-less public support from the American people) in Iraq - fear and the need for security overwhelmed the ability to make rational calculations.

On that note, Friedman's latest column drove me in to another fit of rage. After spending the lion's share of his column talking about these European pantywaists, the next to last paragraph:

Funnily enough, the one country on this side of the ocean that would have elected Mr. Bush is not in Europe, but the Middle East: it's Iran, where many young people apparently hunger for Mr. Bush to remove their despotic leaders, the way he did in Iraq.

My first thought is OH FUCK. First we had Ken Pollack's book on Iran's nuclear threat, then Hersh's article, and now this. It's like a goddamn nightmare. The exact same fucking game is being played again, and we all have to watch. Coming up next - the congressional debate on whether or not to invade Iran. The democrats will vote in favour of it, then get reduced to 2 seats in the Senate and 20 in the House during the 2006 mid-terms. Come 2008, they'll run Hilary Clinton for President, who voted for the war resolution but now thinks Bush has mishandled the occupation of Iran, as US deaths climb past 10,000.

I'm beginning to brush up on other Greek stories...

(My second thought, by the way, is "What pot is Friedman smoking? Shiite Iran is not going to elect President Born-Again himelf.")