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TOM MORGAN'S MONEY TALK
The glums have it. They hold the floor. They tell us that any war in Iraq will cut the pace of economic growth. It will frighten investors. So says a guy from the IMF, for the benefit of the press. So echo a bunch of others who have set themselves dead against any warfare in Iraq. Any war could spill into other countries, the glums warn. It could harm developing nations. Of course it could. It could also do the opposite. Please don't feel I advocate war as a stimulant to any economy. That is not the point of this piece. I just want to question what looks like a weak point by those opposed to action in Iraq. The glums tell us the whole world will fall apart if there is a war. Huge numbers of innocents will be killed and injured. Relations with Arab nations and other Muslim nations will be ruined for decades to come. Economies will be torn and tattered. Millions of lives will be ruined. However, things could easily go the other way. That is, millions of lives could easily be improved. Millions of women could learn to taste freedom. Millions of people might get a shot at some prosperity. Or at better health. Or at education for their children. Millions could escape oppression, barbarity. Millions could acquire and enjoy freedoms they never knew existed. Millions could avoid losing their lives early. These are hardly pipe dreams. The people of South Korea have enjoyed them, thanks to a horrible Korean War. Had the communists taken over South Korea, many would have been tortured and killed. All would have lived in the sort of prison the communists have run in the north. The message on M*A*S*H the tv show often was that the Korean War was wrong, immoral, unfair. And that it should have never been fought. There were and are many millions of South Koreans who owe their lives, their health, their prosperity to the awful fact that it was fought. If you believe life in North Korea is simply a different way of life, consider the true difference. In North Korea 26 babies die per 1000 births versus 8 in South Korea. Women live, on average, 4 years less in North Korea than in South Korea. The gross domestic product (wealth produced) is $920 per person in North Korea, one of the lowest on earth. It is $13,000 per person in South Korea. Can you imagine what different standards of living this creates? North Korea spends 33% of all the country produces on defense. While millions of its people starve, literally. South Korea spends 3%. The people of Europe would have suffered for who knows how long under Hitler and his successors. Had not war freed them. Had not war created the conditions for freedom and decent government. Millions of Chinese and other Asians would have suffered under the Japanese for who knows how long. Had not war freed them. Some of Europe's (and our own) anti-war leaders have declared that war is never the answer. They either don't ask the right questions or they don't study history. Yes, negotiate. Yes, never fight until all other solutions have been tried. Yes, be aware that war is horrific. But realize, sadly, that humanity creates evil in its midst.. No amount of PR flacking can erase the reality that Saddam is an incredibly evil being. He and his followers have committed some barbaric atrocities. They have acquired weapons that will allow further atrocities. They have helped train and sheltered terrorists who have committed atrocities. Maybe by massing armies around him we can force him into exile. And maybe we will have to go to war to remove this evil. And maybe - I would say there is a good chance - when he is gone life will grow a lot richer for millions of people in Iraq and other nations. This has certainly happened for millions after some other wars.
From Tom...as in Morgan.
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