1990 NYT Op-ED about invading Burma for humanitarian reasons

[BoomerD]

But if the planes don't land, how are they going to smuggle the heroin out?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

The question is moot. The political capital for invasion has been spent, and as we have hopefully learned (for this generation, because collective memories are short) that invading a country is easy. It's what you do with it afterward that's difficult.

We invade-> depose leadership-> power vacuum ensues-> armed struggle ensues-> etc etc etc. So we then leave with the country in chaos?

How many of these scenarios can we afford per administration? We have two right now, where one (Afghanistan) would have been plenty.

Now from a philosophical POV, IF the people as a whole want the US to intercede, and the situation is desperate then I'm not against it. Considering how politicians pick criminals like Chalabi to represent citizens viewpoints, I can't believe anything I'm told when invasion is mention.

Cliffs- Theoretically yes on rare occasions. Practically speaking, no.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Originally posted by: JSt0rm01
Well we would never do this because Burma doesn't mean anything to us. Look at Africa, we just let them kill each other and don't even think about it. you all know the real reasons for iraq unless burma finds some huge amounts of natural resources that we need they could all die and we would just wear little colored ribbons.

QFT...unless Burma has a lot of oil that we need, we won't be invading.

 

[Genx87]

There isnt much we can do realistically. The world is a harsh place. Why do we feel the need to protect these people from their own govt? btw i'd say if we drop anything, it should be guns so these people can take down their own govt. Dropping food into these regimes only props them up and makes the suffering last longer. When the people starve enough they will become desperate enough to make the necessary changes.

 

[piasabird]

If Maynmar wants to shun the help of the west and refuse our offers of help we should let them. We dont have much choice. Either help them by force or let them survive and die on their own. The best we can do is make a serious offer. If we had not invaded Iraq, perhaps they would have accepted our help.