Thursday, February 20, 2003

Mathew Yglesias makes an important point for all those who think that European opinion shouldn't matter:
Incidentally, if you're wondering why European public opinion matters, consider the fact that if the leaders of EU contries were under intense popular pressure to successfully invade Iraq that the Turkey could have been promised concessions on the issue of their accession to the EU in exchange for their cooperation in launching the invasion. Instead, we're going to have to go in under much more difficult circumstances that will probably put the lives of American servicemen at even greater risk than they would have been otherwise.
There are far to many people out there, especially in positions of power where their opinion can actually make a difference, who think that America is so powerful and so righteous in its cause that it really doesn't need the support of its allies to do what needs to be done. Mathew's example is a good one because it shows that working with our allies can make things a lot easier for the grunts in the field. Yes, maybe we can still get it all done on our own. But why should we put American lives at risk just to prove that we don't need to those stinkin' europeans?

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