It's Only Bad If They Do It

On March 19, 2003, George W. Bush declared war against Iraq and sent in American troops to... well, we're not really sure. And, as it turns out, George W. Bush can't actually declare war. Only Congress can. But George did declare that he had the right to "pre-emptively attack" any country that he perceived to be a threat. And we all know what a perceptive guy George W. Bush is.

OK, so we now have a Bush doctrine, even if Bush himself can't really pronounce all the words in the doctrine. So what I want to know is this: On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Empire saw a threat and acted to contain it. They attacked Pearl Harbor, an American territory, and declared war on the United States.

The consensus opinions of Americans everywhere is (and was) that this was a Bad Thing.

I believe Germany did the same thing when they invaded Poland. They saw what they perceived to be a threat, and they acted. We also held, at the time and probably now, that this was a Bad Thing. When the Germans invaded Russia, Russia loudly proclaimed that this was a Bad Thing.

So as far as I can tell, it has always been a Bad Thing for one nation to say "Hey! You looked at me funny! I'm-a comin' to git ya!" And in general, if the country being invaded ends up winning the conflict, they punish the country that had exercised their "pre-emptive war" option.

So, again I ask: Why was it Bad for Japan to invade us -- aside from the fact that it was us, and we really don't like being invaded -- but OK for us to invade Iraq?

How come it was OK for us to invade Iraq because they "possessed weapons of mass destruction" while we ourselves possess weapons of mass destruction?

How come it was OK for us to invade Iraq because Saddam was a "bad guy" who tortured people when the President of the United States has ordered that people be tortured, and is currently lobbying on behalf of a bill that will make it legal for him to order that lots more people get tortured?

How come it was OK for us to invade Iraq because Saddam was "killing innocent civilians" even though we have killed far more innocent civilians than he did?

How come it was OK for us to invade Iraq because Saddam had "rape rooms" when we seem to have the same thing ourselves?

I'm lost here, really. Saddam inflicted outrages on the Iraqi people -- at least, those Iraqi people who were his enemies -- and we're inflicting outrages on the Iraqi people. The main difference here is that we're much more efficient at inflicting outrages on the Iraqi people, especially those who happen to think that fresh water, gasoline, and electricity are Good Things, and that being able to safely walk the streets is a Good Thing, and that not being shot simply because you're a Sunni living in the Shiite section, or a Shiite living in the Sunni section is a Good Thing.

100 Iraqis a day are being murdered. At this rate, the entire country should be dead before too long, all thanks to the generosity of George W. Bush.