War - what is it good for?

"Only the dead have seen the end of war" - Plato

Protesters took to the streets of major Canadian cities on Saturday to mark the third anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq. In Vancouver, there was a big rally over at Seaforth Park and another outside of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The protest was not limited to ongoing operations in Iraq; placards and speeches opposed the UN-sanctioned operations in Afghanistan and Haiti.

I didn't attend these rallies so I didn't get a chance to talk to any of the participants. But I wonder how many of the protesters gave a thought to the victims of Saddam Hussein when he was in power? The Taliban when they ruled Afghanistan in a medieval tyranny? The fact that the current missions in Afghanistan and Haiti are sanctioned by the United Nations?

Of course, war is a terrible thing, necessarily causing the murder of innocents. Probably, many Canadians would say that the end can never justify the means.

But such an unwavering stand irritatingly ignores the evidence that some wars in recent memory have brought about positive change.

Does anyone truly want Saddam Hussein back in power? Do educated people really think that most Afghanis would prefer to go back to living under a brutal theocracy where women were essentially reduced to slavery? Is it really a good idea to remove the UN force from Haiti and just let the country dissolve into a bloody mess? Would these things make the world a better place?

For that matter, does anyone familiar with 20th century history think a genocidal Nazi empire extending from western Europe into Central Asia would have made for a happier planet? Or that half the world's population slaving away under the Japanese Empire's "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" would be a good thing?

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King

tags: MAWO, NATO, UN, injustice, Seaforth Park, peaceniks, peace movement